In summary
- Aberdeen was the cheapest city to buy a house in the UK, with an average asking price of just £94,778 for an average first-time buyer home
- The cheapest area in the UK for first-time buyers was Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, with an average asking price of £90,092
- Bradford, Hull and Doncaster were all in the top 5 most affordable cities for first-time buyers, giving Yorkshire a strong showing in the cities list
- Scotland boasted the most inclusions in the list of affordable areas, with Ayr, Paisley and East Kilbride joining Kilmarnock
May 14, 2026
Thinking about buying your first home? If so, you’ve probably seen a lot of headlines about house prices, and how they vary depending on where you’re looking to live.
To help you understand what you could afford, we’ve compared average asking prices of homes in areas and cities across Great Britain to highlight where the cheapest places to buy a home are for first-time buyers.
10 cheapest cities for first time buyers in the UK
Affordability is a major challenge for many first-time buyers in the UK. However, there are still cities that offer all the benefits of urban living with more affordable property prices.
Looking at typical first-time homes (2 bedrooms or fewer) we’ve found the cheapest cities in the UK for first-time buyers. Top of the list is Aberdeen, with an average asking price of just £94,778.
This port city on the north eastern coast of Scotland regularly finds itself near the top of UK resident satisfaction surveys. Reasons for this include the lower cost of living, along with the offshore oil industry, beautiful surrounding countryside of Aberdeenshire, historic granite architecture and a thriving university community in the city.
Dundee was the other Scottish city that made the list, with an average asking price of £117,624 and the strongest year-on-year price growth at +5.8%. Bradford, Hull and Doncaster were three Yorkshire cities that made the top 5. Doncaster was also the affordable city in the list that saw the biggest asking price dip over the past year, at -10.1%.
| City | Average asking price for a first-time buyer home* | Average asking price increase year-on-year |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire | £94,778 | -0.4% |
| Bradford, West Yorkshire | £104,222 | -1.7% |
| Hull, East Riding Of Yorkshire | £104,934 | +3.0% |
| Doncaster, South Yorkshire | £107,088 | -10.1% |
| Preston, Lancashire | £112,830 | -0.9% |
| Sunderland, Tyne And Wear | £114,671 | +5.6% |
| Dundee | £117,624 | +5.8% |
| Carlisle, Cumbria | £120,999 | +4.9% |
| Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire | £125,263 | +4.3% |
| Swansea, Wales | £133,978 | +0.6% |
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10 cheapest areas for first time buyers in the UK
We also looked at the cheapest places to buy a house in the UK beyond major cities. Scotland again topped the list, with first-time buyer homes in Kilmarknock averaging an asking price of £90,092. The town and region in southwest Scotland offers buyers a mix of traditional sandstone homes and modern developments, and a 40-minute commute by rail into Glasgow.
Ayr, Paisley and East Kilbride also made the list, giving Scotland a strong showing among the UK’s affordable areas for buying property. Middlesborough was second-placed in the list of cheapest areas for first-time buyers, with an average asking price of £91,674 and year-on-year price growth of +2.2%.
The strongest price growth seen in the list of affordable areas was achieved by Hartlepool, with +8.4% growth year-on-year.
| Area | Average asking price for a first-time buyer home* | Average asking price increase year-on-year |
|---|---|---|
| Kilmarnock, Ayrshire | £90,092 | +2.5% |
| Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire | £91,674 | +2.2% |
| Grimsby, Lincolnshire | £93,629 | +2.4% |
| Paisley, Renfrewshire | £95,906 | -0.1% |
| Stockton-On-Tees, Durham | £96,024 | -2.0% |
| Blackpool, Lancashire | £100,704 | +3.4% |
| Burnley, Lancashire | £102,458 | +1.6% |
| East Kilbride, Glasgow | £102,536 | +3.5% |
| Hartlepool | £102,598 | +8.4% |
| Ayr, Ayrshire | £103,235 | +6.5% |
*Rightmove HPI, April 2026
First-time buyer guides
Buying your first home can feel like a big step but you don’t have to figure it out alone. Our first-time buyer guides help you understand how to get a mortgage, work out how much you can afford, and take one step closer to your first home.
Written by Jan Moys, Rightmove Editorial Team
Jan has worked as a writer and content expert for… Read moreCopyright © 2000-2026 Rightmove Group Limited. All rights reserved. Rightmove prohibits the scraping of its content. You can find further details here.