Bradford is the cheapest city for a first time buyer
- A new first-time buyer study from Rightmove reveals that Bradford is the cheapest city to be a first-time buyer, with the average monthly mortgage payment on a first-time buyer type property now £521 per month
- Outside of London, St Albans is the most expensive city to be a first-time buyer, followed by Bath & Cambridge
- Across Great Britain, the average monthly mortgage payment for a typical first-time buyer type property is now £1,127 per month, up 21% on a year ago, compared with the average monthly rent of £1,120 per month, up 11% on a year ago
- It’s cheaper to pay a monthly mortgage on a first-time buyer type home than rent in half of cities despite a new national record first-time buyer asking price and higher mortgage rates:
- The biggest reduction is in Glasgow where monthly mortgage payments are £215 cheaper than rental payments, while the biggest jump is in St Albans where monthly mortgage payments are £525 more expensive than rental payments
New analysis from the UK’s biggest property website Rightmove reveals that Bradford is the cheapest city to be a first-time buyer.
The average asking price for a typical first-time buyer type property in Bradford is £104,643 with the average monthly mortgage payment now £521 per month.
The data analysed the average monthly mortgage payment of a typical first-time buyer type property (2 bedrooms and fewer) and the equivalent monthly rent in cities across Great Britain. The data assumes first-time buyers are taking out a five-year fixed, 90% Loan-to-Value (LTV) mortgage at the best-buy rate of 4.45%, spread over 25 years.
Carlisle is the second cheapest city to be a first-time buyer, with an average monthly mortgage payment of £522, followed by Aberdeen (£528 per month) and Hull (£532 per month).
St. Albans is the most expensive city to be a first-time buyer excluding London, with average monthly mortgage payments for a first-time buyer type home now £1,958, followed by Bath (£1,765 per month) & Cambridge (£1,763 per month).
It’s cheaper to pay a monthly mortgage on a first-time buyer type home than rent in half of cities for those who are able to save a 10% deposit.
This increases to two-thirds of cities if first-time buyers can save up a 15% deposit, therefore reducing their monthly payments, with many parts of Great Britain seeing record rents and a significant gap between demand and availability of rental homes.
First-time buyers in Glasgow make the biggest savings in cash terms by getting on the ladder, with the average monthly mortgage payment for a first home being £215 per month cheaper the average rent, while first-time buyers in St. Albans see the biggest increase in monthly payments when purchasing a first home of £525 compared to the equivalent rent.
Across Great Britain, a typical first-time buyer home is now a record £226,399, and the best-buy rate on a five-year fixed, 90% LTV mortgage is now 4.45% up from 2.79% this time last year.
Despite these price increases, the average mortgage payment on a first-time buyer property is now £1,127 per month, only just edging the average asking rent of £1,120 per month.
Rightmove’s property expert Tim Bannister said: “For those who are able to save up the deposit, it’s still cheaper to pay off a mortgage as a first-time buyer in many areas than pay the equivalent in monthly rent, despite prices reaching a new record at a national level and mortgage rates rising. It highlights how frenetic the rental market has been for a long time now, with many areas continuing to see record rents and fierce competition between tenants for the properties available. It helps to explain why we’re seeing such determination from first-time buyers to continue to get onto the ladder despite the economic headwinds that they face, and why we’re seeing buyers increasingly return to cities while a bigger proportion of renters are looking to move away.”
City Trends
Cheapest cities
| Cities | Average asking price for a first-time buyer type property (2 bedrooms and fewer) | Average monthly mortgage payment (per month) | Average monthly rental payment (per month) | Mortgage versus Rent |
| Bradford | £104,643 | £521 | £623 | -£102 |
| Carlisle | £104,784 | £522 | £556 | -£34 |
| Aberdeen | £106,088 | £528 | £718 | -£190 |
| Hull | £106,939 | £532 | £595 | -£63 |
| Dundee | £111,415 | £555 | £731 | -£176 |
Most expensive cities
| Cities | Average asking price for a first-time buyer type property (2 bedrooms and fewer) | Average monthly mortgage payment (per month) | Average monthly rental payment (per month) | Mortgage versus Rent |
| London | £508,879 | £2,533 | £2,054 | +£479 |
| St. Albans | £393,485 | £1,958 | £1,433 | +£525 |
| Bath | £354,636 | £1,765 | £1,342 | +£423 |
| Cambridge | £354,181 | £1,763 | £1,522 | +£241 |
| Oxford | £351,943 | £1,752 | £1,422 | +£330 |
Cheaper to pay a mortgage than rent
| Cities | Average asking price for a first-time buyer type property (2 bedrooms and fewer) | Average monthly mortgage payment (per month) | Average monthly rental payment (per month) | Mortgage versus Rent |
| Glasgow | £130,947 | £652 | £867 | -£215 |
| Swansea | £137,855 | £686 | £884 | -£198 |
| Aberdeen | £106,088 | £528 | £718 | -£190 |
| Dundee | £111,415 | £555 | £731 | -£176 |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | £135,160 | £673 | £841 | -£168 |
You May Also Enjoy
Breaking Property News 26/3/26
Households facing £114 council tax increase
UK House Price Index for January 2025
Exchange time reaches 135 days
Industry response to latest inflation figures and its impact on housing
