Durham takes top spot
Stone Real Estate, which sells new homes, looked at the cost of buying a brand-new home in 50 UK cities. The results reveal that Durham is the place where buyers would need the shortest time to pull a deposit together. Home buyers in the north-east university town need a deposit of £14,938, and based on an average monthly salary of £1,803, they’d take just 8.3 months to save for their purchase.
Less than a year to save deposit
The next best cities are Dundee (8.9 months), Stirling (9.4), Stoke (9.8), Glasgow (9.9), Bradford (10.2), Derby (10.3) and Swansea (10.4). Sheffield, Liverpool, Lancaster, Lincoln, Nottingham, Salford and Wakefield are all spots where buyers could realistically save for their deposit in less than a year.
Premium on brand new
Michael Stone, chief executive officer at Stone Real Estate, said: “Newbuild properties will always carry a price premium, and for good reason, as home buyers 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 person touch. “However, the cost of getting on the newbuild ladder isn’t that much higher than the cost of existing property stock, and as this research shows, home buyers would pull together a deposit in some places in less than a year.”