Purchasing a home for the first time can be a challenge for many as multiple factors have to be factored in and that may depend on the city one is in.
The Co-operative Bank recently published findings into the 10 best cities in the UK for first-time home buyers. The research took into account factors such as average costs for buying a house as well as scores based on crime, traffic and life satisfaction.
A key and perhaps unsurprising takeaway from the research included London failing to make the list, as the average total cost to purchase a first home in the capital will put buyers back £547,560. A portion of this cost is made up of the city’s average stamp duty costs (£5,703), average conveyancing costs (£2,043) and average surveying costs (£740).
The second most expensive city for first-time home buyers in the UK and also not making the 10 best cities list is Bristol. Buying a house will cost an average total of £353,033 if one is searching for their first property in the South West city.
Here are the 10 best rated places in the UK for people looking to buy their first home:
- Swansea – £195,687
- Edinburgh – £346,293
- Plymouth – £225,060
- Sunderland – £147,319
- Sheffield – £222,570
- Leeds – £246,026
- Newport – £240,065
- Blackpool – £135,995
- Stoke-on-Trent – £143,642
- Kingston upon Hull – £140,814
Whilst the price in Swansea was not the lowest out of all the best 10 British cities, helping its case to be in top spot was a low crime safety score of 35.5, a low traffic score of 93.6 and a strong life satisfaction score of 7.5.
Only the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, had a better crime safety score with 30.9, and just Stoke-on-Trent and Sheffield had lower traffic scores of 83.5 and 90.3, respectively. Edinburgh also was the only city to have better rated life satisfaction than Swansea, with a score of 7.7, whilst Plymouth, Leeds and Blackpool were tied with the Welsh city in second with a 7.5 score as well.
Edinburgh’s impressive scores in crime safety and life satisfaction were enough to make it the second-best rated place for first time British home buyers. However, holding the city back from the top spot and overcoming Swansea was its extremely high average price for buying a house.
Factoring in costs alone, this high average total amount that the Scottish capital requires first-time buyers to pay actually made it the third-most expensive destination in the UK. The average stamp duty cost in Edinburgh was even higher than London at £6,503.
Behind Edinburgh as the third-best British city for people looking for their first property was Plymouth. Despite the city being much closer in first-time home buyer costs to Swansea than Edinburgh and having an acceptable traffic score of 99, the crime score of 41.5 pegged its ranking down.
Eighth-place Blackpool was found to be the most affordable place for first-time buyers to live, with its average total cost of £135,995.
However, severely affecting Blackpool’s ranking from being higher was the city’s crime score of 59.1, which was the highest on the best 10 list. Also, the seaside town had the third-highest traffic score of 108.9, with only Leeds (122.6) and Kingston upon Hull (113.6) having worser scores.
A spokesperson for The Co-operative Bank commented on what first-time home buyers must be aware of at the beginning of the process. They mentioned: “If you’re planning to buy your first home, the very first step is to save up money for a deposit. Typically, you’ll need to save a minimum of 10% of the cost of the property you want to buy.”
After that, The Co-operative Bank suggests that people searching for their first property factor in their budget and be aware of extra buying costs such as conveyancing and surveying fees, as well as future renovation plans.
Also, first-time home buyers should look out for government schemes that can aid their purchasing process and additionally seek guidance from mortgage advisors.
