Eleven towns in Scotland have emerged as some of the most affordable places to buy a property in the UK.
The country's most budget-friendly towns have been revealed through analysis by Zoopla, and feature almost a dozen Scottish towns in its top 20.
In an analysis of the average property prices and average earnings in more than 1000 UK towns, the property destination firm compiled a price-to-earnings ratio which represents the number of average salaries it would take to afford a property in each town.
READ MORE: Two Scottish towns among the most in-demand seaside locations in UK
Cumnock in East Ayrshire has been revealed as Scotland's most affordable area, with a home setting you back around £74,000.
Gross annual earnings per person in Cumnock average at £31,000, equating to a 2.39 price to earnings ratio to buy a property in this area.
It came second in the UK just behind Shildon in County Durham, with the average property price coming in at £60,000.
When looking at annual earnings, per person, they average at £28,000, which equates to 2.11 price to earnings ratio.
Other Scottish towns making the top 20 include Girvan in South Ayrshire at number 5, with the average property price sitting at £84,000, and Stevenston in North Ayrshire, boasting an average price of £77,000.
The remaining Scottish towns which featured in the top 20 list are:
- Mauchline, East Ayrshire
- Wick, Highlands
- Irvine, North Ayrshire
- Kilwinning, North Ayrshire
- Maybole, East Ayrshire,
- Shotts, North Lanarkshire
- Thurso, Highlands
- Port Glasgow, Inverclyde
Commenting on the analysis, Tom Parker, consumer expert at Zoopla says: “With the UK housing market opening up again, we know, now more than ever, that it’s important for buyers or potential buyers to know where they can get the most for their money when purchasing a property.
"With budgets tighter than usual, we want to ensure that buying a property is still attainable - even during these unprecedented times.
“Lockdown has resulted in a shift in the way we work, as more employers are allowing their employees to work from home for the foreseeable - and as a result, our property priorities are changing.
"The desire for greater indoor and outdoor space and fewer people having to commute into the office means that the property field is larger and more achievable than ever before - so make use of the analysis and find out a suitable, but most importantly affordable, location to find your dream home.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel