Sunderland is 'one of UK's most affordable cities to buy a home'

Sunderland is one of the best places in the country to get on the property ladder, says one of the UK’s top lenders.
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The Halifax has compared average house prices and wages across the UK to compile a league table of Britain’s most – and least – affordable places to buy property.

Sunderland is ranked at number 11, with an average house price of £179,567 – around six times the average wage of £29,745.

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Other North East cities to make the top 20 are Durham, ranked 13= with an average price of £196,274, 6.2 times the average wage of £31,762; and Newcastle, which is 18th, with a house price of £229,434, 6.3 times more than the average £36,212 wage.

Sunderland is one of the best places in the country to get on the property ladderSunderland is one of the best places in the country to get on the property ladder
Sunderland is one of the best places in the country to get on the property ladder

Nationally, buying a home in a UK city will typically set a buyer back by more than eight times average earnings, after a 10.3% surge in prices over the past year.

In 2020, city homes typically cost around seven and-a-half times wages.

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However, cities still tend to be marginally more affordable than the UK as a whole, which has a house price-to-earnings ratio of 8.5.

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Wages in cities are often higher than in rural areas, while the coronavirus pandemic has seen many city dwellers relocate to the countryside, pushing up house prices in rural areas.

Londonderry held its position as the UK’s most affordable city for the third year in a row, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.7.

Winchester is the UK’s least affordable city – replacing previous table-topper Oxford – with homes now 14 times annual earnings.

London dropped out of the top five least affordable cities for the first time in six years.

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Halifax managing director Russell Galley said: “Affordability is significantly better in the north and there are now just two cities – Plymouth and Portsmouth – with better than average affordability in the south.”

Seven cities saw homes become more affordable than a year earlier: Oxford, Carlisle, Portsmouth, Durham, Salford, Inverness and Glasgow.

Carlisle and Aberdeen are now more affordable than five years ago, while Inverness is the only city found to be more affordable than 10 years ago.

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