Revealed: the most affordale city in Britain - and it's in Scotland

Stirling has been found to be the most affordable city in the UK, while Perth has seen the biggest improvement in terms of home affordability in Scotland over the last five years, according to a new report.
A view of Stirling and the castle with snow cover hills in the distance. Picture: Ian RutherfordA view of Stirling and the castle with snow cover hills in the distance. Picture: Ian Rutherford
A view of Stirling and the castle with snow cover hills in the distance. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Five of the top 20 most affordable cities to buy a property in Britain are in Scotland, with Dundee, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth - which saw the biggest improvement in terms of affordability when compared to all other cities in Scotland - also appearing at the top of the affordability rankings.

Oxford is named as the least affordable UK city with an average house price to earnings ratio of 11.5.

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The Bank of Scotland study found that average house price across all Scottish cities increased by 1.8 per cent, from £186,827 in 2016 to £190,250 in 2017. Comparatively, average earnings increased by two per cent, resulting in average home affordability – the ratio between house prices and salary – improving very slightly in the last 12 months.

Edinburgh was ranked the least affordable city in Scotland, with an average house price of £245,349 and mean household income of £41,450, giving a price to earnings ratio of 5.92.

Ricky Diggins, director at Bank of Scotland said: “It 
will come as no surprise to anyone looking to buy a home in Scotland that affordability is not improving by much but compared to the rest of the 
UK, the dream of living in one of our cities is more achievable.”

He added: “Surprisingly, homes in Edinburgh have become more affordable in the last 12 months, although house prices in our capital continue to be more expensive than in all other Scottish cities.”

The report found that Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth all saw an improvement in average home affordability over the past year with a slight decline for Aberdeen.

Inverness, Glasgow and Stirling also saw a decline but still feature in the top 20 most affordable UK cities.

The study found that the average house price in Perth has risen by 11 per cent to £181,329 in the last five years, lower than the average of all other Scottish cities which increased by 23 per cent to £190,250.

This also means that Perth is the only city in Scotland where homes are more affordable than they were five years 
ago, improving from 5.5 times the average yearly salary to 5.44.