Middlesbrough named most affordable location for first-time buyers – Pepper Money
Middlesbrough topped the rankings with an index score of 82.4, followed by Burnley (82.0) and Merthyr Tydfil (81.5). Cumberland and County Durham completed the top five.
Middlesbrough has been named the best place in the UK for first-time buyers looking to maximise value for money, according to research from Pepper Money.
The lender’s First-Time Buyer Index compared average first-time buyer house prices, rents, mortgage affordability and local earnings to identify where buying offers the strongest financial case over renting.
Middlesbrough topped the rankings with an index score of 82.4, followed by Burnley (82.0) and Merthyr Tydfil (81.5). Cumberland and County Durham completed the top five.
The research found the North East performed particularly strongly, with every local authority except Northumberland offering lower average monthly mortgage payments than local rents.
Across the region, the average monthly mortgage stood at £699, compared with a national average of £1,310.
Pepper Money said 13 of the top 20 locations were in the North East or North West, reflecting lower house prices and more affordable deposit requirements.
Among the top 10 locations, Southampton offered the largest annual saving for buyers compared with renters, with homeowners saving an average of £3,924 a year, or £327 a month.
Burnley was found to have the lowest average first-time buyer deposit requirement at £11,595, while Middlesbrough had the lowest average property price among the top-ranked locations at £123,831.
The analysis also found that 41% of local authority areas across England and Wales had lower monthly mortgage costs than rents, while a further 94 locations cost less than £100 more per month to buy than rent.
Pepper Money said the findings highlighted that while affordability challenges remain, prospective buyers who research different areas could find locations where homeownership is financially more attractive than renting.
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