Yorkshire cities Bradford and Hull named among cheapest in Britain for first time buyers to purchase a home according to Rightmove

The property portal saw plenty of home-owners looking for properties in coastal towns and countryside villages during the pandemic, in search of more green spaces and a leisurely paced lifestyle. However, recently Rightmove has seen a big shift in home-movers looking to return to cities.

For those looking to buy their first home, it is helpful to know which cities in Great Britain have the cheapest average property prices right now, along with proximity to their vibrant social scenes, transport connections and metropolitan buzz.

The average asking price for a first-time buyer property, which is a home with two bedrooms or fewer, is currently £226,399.

Rightmove has looked at the average asking price of these types of homes in 60 cities in Great Britain and evaluated the top five cheapest cities for first-time buyers. All of them have an average house price that is less than half the national average.

Bradford in West Yorkshire came out on top; the city has already been named the upcoming City of Culture for 2025 and is now considered the cheapest city for first-time home buyers.

The average asking price for this type of property is £104,643 and this means an average monthly mortgage payment for buyers with a 10 per cent deposit works out at £521 per month, which is just over £100 cheaper than the average rental rate.

This is based on the current best-buy mortgage rate, which is 4.45 per cent, for a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 90 per cent loan-to-value (over a 25-year term).

In recent months, Rightmove has seen higher demand for first-time buyer homes compared to other types of properties. The demand has risen by six per cent on the levels seen during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic began.

This is despite the fact that the property market is more stable now than it was during the very busy pandemic years.

It is thought that the increased demand for first-time buyer homes is due to how competitive the rental market is currently; there are many more tenants looking to move than there are homes available, pushing up rents to record highs.

This has resulted in it becoming cheaper to cover monthly mortgage payments when buying a home in some cities, rather than the average local rental payments.

Rightmove 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 wider economic pressures that they face. And it also explains why we’re seeing buyers increasingly return to cities while a bigger proportion of renters are looking to move away.”

Cheapest cities in Britain for first time buyers - including Bradford and Hull

1 - Bradford

Average asking price: £104,643

Average monthly mortgage payment per month: £521

Average monthly rental payment per month: £623

Mortgage versus rent: -£102

2 - Carlisle

Average asking price: £104,784

Average monthly mortgage payment per month: £522

Average monthly rental payment per month: £556

Mortgage versus rent: -£34

3 - Aberdeen

Average asking price: £106,088

Average monthly mortgage payment per month: £528

Average monthly rental payment per month: £718

Mortgage versus rent: -£190

4 - Hull

Average asking price: £106,939

Average monthly mortgage payment per month: £532

Average monthly rental payment per month: £595

Mortgage versus rent: -£63

5 - Dundee

Average asking price: £111,415

Average monthly mortgage payment per month: £555

Average monthly rental payment per month: £731

Mortgage versus rent: -£176