Scottish areas offer faster route to homeownership

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The research comes from the website Property Buyers Today, which analysed HM Land Registry’s House Price Index and Office for National Statistics’ Gross Domestic Household Income figures to determine where homeowners could save for a deposit fastest, while making manageable mortgage payments.

Inverclyde topped the rankings with an average house price of £112,849, requiring a deposit of £11,285. With an average household income of £37,964, residents could save the needed deposit in just 17.8 months with the UK’s lowest monthly mortgage payment of £627.

Aberdeen City ranked second for deposit saving time at one year and eight months, with East Ayrshire coming in third at the same timeframe, but with lower monthly mortgage payments of £709 compared to Aberdeen’s £783.

West Dunbartonshire and North Ayrshire completed the top-five, both needing less than one year and ten months to save for a deposit, with monthly mortgage payments under £725.At the other end of the scale, the research said that locations in South-East England present nearly impossible saving scenarios for the average buyer. The district of Adur in West Sussex would require65 years and two months to save for a deposit, while Epsom and Ewell would take 57 years.

London boroughs vary, with Kensington and Chelsea having the highest average house price at £1,120,654. Despite this large number, the area’s high household incomes, averaging £193,156 per annum, mean residents can save for a deposit in two years and 11 months, but would face the UK’s highest monthly mortgage payments at £6,229.

Property Buyers Today took the average house price in each UK local authority and divided it by ten to find the cost of a typical deposit. It assumed a household has two average earners, and a savings rate of 20 per cent, to calculate the average amount of income a household could save in each area.

This was used to work out the number of months it would take to save for the average deposit. For each local authority, an expected monthly repayment cost was also calculated.

Saif Derzi, founder of Property Buyers Today, says: “These findings clearly show the North-South divide in housing affordability, with Scottish locations offering a much faster path to homeownership.

“First-time buyers face a genuine struggle to get on the property ladder in many parts of the UK, especially in the South-East where saving for a deposit at current rates would take decades rather than years.

“Relocating to more affordable areas like Inverclyde or Aberdeen could be life-changing for prospective homeowners, reducing the deposit saving time from potentially decades to less than two years.”

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