Where are the most and least affordable places for first-time buyers?

Nearly half of all areas across the UK have average property prices which are unaffordable for first-time buyers, a report suggests.

Only 56% of areas have house prices which are typically affordable for people taking their first step on the property ladder, according to Post Office Money.

Homes were deemed affordable if they cost less than four and a half times typical local first-time buyer incomes, according to the report, which used Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

Areas in more than 80 locations across the country were analysed.

Blackpool, Lincoln and Hull topped the list of first-time buyer hotspots where properties were particularly affordable.

The report found that 100% of areas within these locations had average house prices which were affordable.

The historic cities of Oxford, Cambridge and York were among the first-time buyer coldspots – with no areas where average house prices were deemed affordable for people taking their first step on the property ladder.

In London, where wages are often higher than elsewhere in the UK, 19% of areas were still found to be affordable for local buyers, despite the capital’s relatively high house prices compared with the rest of the country.

In Cardiff, just under a third (31%) of areas were deemed affordable for first-time buyers, while in nearby Newport in South Wales the proportion was 65%.

In Newcastle-upon-Tyne 69% of areas were deemed affordable, as were 72% in Plymouth.

In both Leeds and Worcester, half (50%) of areas were found to be affordable for first-time buyers.

Ross Hunter, product director, Post Office Money said: “While we have seen house price growth slow in the last year, properties can still seem particularly unaffordable for first-time buyers.

“We know that saving for a deposit remains the most significant hurdle for young buyers to overcome in order to achieve their home ownership aspirations.

“It can take years of dedicated effort in order to gather the necessary funds.

“There are a number of ways that prospective homeowners can reduce their time spent saving, such as taking on a fixer-upper property or looking in a cheaper area close to where they might have previously considered.”

Post Office Money has an online tool that allows first-time buyers to hunt for their most affordable local areas and work out how long they it will take them to save for their deposit at www.postoffice.co.uk/mortgages/deposit-calculator.

Here are the top 10 areas found to be most affordable for local first-time buyers, according to Post Office Money, with the percentage of areas within each location where average house prices were deemed to be affordable:

= 1. Blackpool, Lancashire, 100%
=1. Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 100%
=1. Hull, East Yorkshire, 100%
4. Knowsley, Merseyside, 95%
=5. Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 94%
=5. Southampton, Hampshire, 94%
=7. Sandwell, West Midlands, 92%
=7. Hartlepool, County Durham, 92%
9. Wigan, Greater Manchester, 90%
10. Oldham, Greater Manchester, 88%

Here are the 10 areas found to be least affordable for local first-time buyers, according to Post Office Money, with the percentage of areas within each location where average house prices were deemed to be affordable:

=1. Warwick, Warwickshire, 0%
=1. Guildford, Surrey, 0%
=1. Woking, Surrey, 0%
=1. Oxford, Oxfordshire, 0%
=1. Watford, Hertfordshire, 0%
=1. Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, 0%
=1. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 0%
=1. York, North Yorkshire, 0%
9. Bath and North East Somerset, 4%
=10. Reading, Berkshire, 6%
=10. Edinburgh, Scotland, 6%