Durham tops Britain’s best cities for new build affordability while Exeter ranks as worst

The latest research by the new homes specialists, Stone Real Estate, has looked at where across Britain is home to the most affordable chance of securing a new property based on the cost of new builds, the mortgage deposit required to buy one, and the average monthly net wage available.

Stone Real Estate looked at the current average cost of a new build property across 50 of Britain’s biggest cities, working out the cost of a 10% mortgage deposit and comparing it to average monthly net salary to see where is home to the best affordability ratio.

Across Great Britain, the current new build costs an average of £295,950, with a 10% deposit costing £29,595. The average monthly net salary currently sits at £1,993 and so it would take 14.9 months for the average home buyer to save a deposit, providing they tuck every penny away of course. While this is never the case with other costs of living taking priority, many save with a little help from their partner and some even have the additional boost of Help to Buy, and so it still demonstrates the cities that are home to the quickest foot on the ladder in relative terms.

Which cities are they?

While the wider property market has been tough of late in Durham, it does offer the best option for home buyers looking to save for a new build property. With the average monthly salary at £1,803 and a 10% deposit on the average new build costing £14,938, it would take just 8.3 months of saving to secure that first foot on the new home ladder.

Dundee (8.9), Stirling (9.4), Stoke (9.8) and Glasgow (9.9) are also home to an affordability ratio of fewer than 10 months to save a 10% new build deposit.

Bradford (10.2), Derby (10.3), Swansea (10.4), Sheffield (10.7), Liverpool (10.8), Lancaster (11), Lincoln (11.3), Nottingham (11.5), Salford (11.6) and Wakefield (11.7) would all also take less than a year to accumulate a new build deposit based on the average monthly net wage available.

Perhaps surprisingly, London’s higher wage means it’s not the city with the longest affordability ratio for new builds and with an average take-home of £2,593, it would take 18.7 months to save the average new build deposit of £48,434. It is, in fact, Exeter where home buyers have the worst chance of saving for a brand new property, with the affordability ratio between wage and deposit at 24.3 months, closely followed by Cambridge at 24.1.

Bexley is the borough to head for if you want to get on the new build ladder in London, with an affordability ratio of 14.7 months between the average deposit and the monthly take home wage.

Greenwich (15.1), Croydon (15.5), Richmond (15.6) and Tower Hamlets (15.7) are also amongst some of the best for new build to salary affordability when saving for that all-important deposit.

Founder and CEO of Stone Real Estate, Michael Stone, commented:

“New build properties will always carry a price premium, and for good reason, as homebuyers are the first to call them home and enjoy the benefits that come with it, such as no onward chain, brand new appliances with long warranties, and the option to add their personal touch.

However, the cost of getting on the new build ladder isn’t that much higher than the cost of existing property stock and as this research shows, homebuyers could pull together a deposit in some places in less than a year.

Of course, a little thing called life will ensure that we can’t tuck 100% of our salary away into a property deposit fund, however, there are often two people saving for the same goal and so this research does demonstrate the areas that will see them achieve this goal in the most timely fashion.”

Country	Monthly Net Salary	Average House Price	10% Deposit	Months Saving Required
England	£2,018	£305,490	£30,549	15.1
Wales	£1,736	£215,497	£21,550	12.4
Scotland	£1,888	£209,455	£20,945	11.1
Great Britain	£1,993	£295,950	£29,595	14.9

Ranked by top 20 quickest cities for a foot on the new build ladder across Britain.
City	Monthly Net Salary	Average House Price	10% Deposit	Months Saving Required
Durham	£1,803	£149,382	£14,938	8.3
City of Dundee	£1,721	£152,698	£15,270	8.9
Stirling	£2,343	£219,174	£21,917	9.4
Stoke-on-Trent	£1,687	£165,085	£16,509	9.8
City of Glasgow	£1,801	£178,899	£17,890	9.9
Bradford	£1,728	£176,561	£17,656	10.2
City of Derby	£1,911	£195,874	£19,587	10.3
Swansea	£1,751	£181,503	£18,150	10.4
Sheffield	£1,751	£187,904	£18,790	10.7
Liverpool	£1,742	£189,000	£18,900	10.8
Lancaster	£1,848	£202,926	£20,293	11.0
Lincoln	£1,580	£177,801	£17,780	11.3
City of Nottingham	£1,592	£183,627	£18,363	11.5
Salford	£1,711	£198,988	£19,899	11.6
Wakefield	£1,671	£196,310	£19,631	11.7
Sunderland	£1,642	£196,414	£19,641	12.0
Newcastle upon Tyne	£1,907	£229,277	£22,928	12.0
City of Kingston upon Hull	£1,457	£176,849	£17,685	12.1
Norwich	£1,765	£215,223	£21,522	12.2
City of Aberdeen	£2,105	£256,930	£25,693	12.2

Ranked by top 20 slowest cities for a foot on the new build ladder across Britain.
City	Monthly Net Salary	Average House Price	10% Deposit	Months to buy a new build
Exeter	£1,678	£407,031	£40,703	24.3
Cambridge	£2,383	£575,039	£57,504	24.1
Bath and North East Somerset	£2,041	£431,248	£43,125	21.1
Chichester	£1,987	£416,931	£41,693	21.0
London	£2,593	£484,341	£48,434	18.7
York	£1,759	£327,447	£32,745	18.6
Oxford	£2,016	£349,047	£34,905	17.3
Leicester	£1,472	£238,709	£23,871	16.2
Gloucester	£1,760	£282,591	£28,259	16.1
Brighton and Hove	£2,068	£329,825	£32,983	15.9
City of Bristol	£1,880	£290,821	£29,082	15.5
Worcester	£1,825	£277,075	£27,708	15.2
Coventry	£1,863	£276,409	£27,641	14.8
Newport	£1,706	£248,460	£24,846	14.6
Portsmouth	£1,704	£244,451	£24,445	14.3
Preston	£1,678	£237,883	£23,788	14.2
City of Edinburgh	£2,182	£302,571	£30,257	13.9
City of Peterborough	£1,780	£246,446	£24,645	13.8
Birmingham	£1,792	£248,034	£24,803	13.8
Southampton	£1,648	£224,553	£22,455	13.6

Ranked by quickest foot on the new build ladder for all London boroughs
City	Monthly Net Salary	Average House Price	10% Deposit	Months to buy a new build
Bexley	£2,240	£329,427	£32,943	14.7
Greenwich	£2,667	£403,142	£40,314	15.1
Croydon	£2,265	£352,003	£35,200	15.5
Richmond upon Thames	£3,521	£549,185	£54,919	15.6
Tower Hamlets	£2,899	£453,984	£45,398	15.7
Wandsworth	£3,477	£581,296	£58,130	16.7
Bromley	£2,729	£456,244	£45,624	16.7
Hounslow	£2,146	£374,519	£37,452	17.4
Lewisham	£2,303	£402,561	£40,256	17.5
Harrow	£2,318	£407,856	£40,786	17.6
Islington	£3,289	£593,293	£59,329	18.0
Enfield	£2,110	£380,883	£38,088	18.0
Sutton	£2,202	£399,173	£39,917	18.1
Havering	£2,133	£395,854	£39,585	18.6
Ealing	£2,470	£472,840	£47,284	19.1
Kingston upon Thames	£2,644	£509,835	£50,984	19.3
Hammersmith and Fulham	£3,276	£639,196	£63,920	19.5
Lambeth	£2,689	£537,600	£53,760	20.0
Southwark	£2,433	£491,517	£49,152	20.2
Merton	£2,865	£595,513	£59,551	20.8
Barking and Dagenham	£1,834	£390,602	£39,060	21.3
Barnet	£2,436	£525,590	£52,559	21.6
Haringey	£2,279	£493,368	£49,337	21.7
Hillingdon	£2,004	£443,828	£44,383	22.1
Waltham Forest	£2,117	£473,650	£47,365	22.4
Camden	£3,602	£820,987	£82,099	22.8
Brent	£2,059	£469,558	£46,956	22.8
City of Westminster	£4,485	£1,055,804	£105,580	23.5
Redbridge	£2,278	£542,955	£54,296	23.8
City of London	£3,345	£845,504	£84,550	25.3
Newham	£1,893	£489,067	£48,907	25.8
Hackney	£2,225	£626,569	£62,657	28.2
Kensington & Chelsea was excluded due to a lack of current wage data

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