The most and least affordable place to buy a home in the North East revealed

The least affordable place to buy a home in the North East has been revealed.

North Tyneside has come out as the least affordable place to buy a house in the North East, ahead of the likes of Northumberland and Newcastle which have some of the highest house prices in the region. The average house in North Tyneside sold for £206,000 in the 12 months to January, which works out as 6.2 times the average local full-time salary.

That puts it just ahead of Northumberland where the average house costs £204,000 which is 6 times the average salary. Houses in Newcastle are 5.9 times the average local salary, while in South Tyneside they’re 5.3 times the average.

In February, Whitley Bay was named as one of the most sought-after destinations amongst North East home buyers, according to estate agent, Signature North East. There had been a “booming coastal market” since the coronavirus pandemic with more people than ever looking to move to the seaside in search of a “better lifestyle.”

Hartlepool has been named the most affordable place to buy in the North East when it comes to local people being able to buy a house. The average property in Hartlepool was bought for £124,000 in the year to January, according to the latest data from the Land Registry. That makes it the cheapest local authority in which to buy a house in the whole of our region and when you take local salaries into account, it’s also the most affordable.

The average full-time employee who lives in Hartlepool earns £32,481 a year, meaning the average home in the area is 3.8 times greater than the average salary. That’s the lowest house price to income ratio of any local authority in our region. In fact, only three local authorities in the whole of Great Britain have a lower house price to income ratio – Burnley (3.3), East Ayrshire (3.6) and North Ayrshire (3.7).

County Durham is the North East’s next most affordable local authority. Homes there were sold for an average of £125,000 in the 12 months to January 2024, which works out as 4 times the local full-time average salary. In Sunderland, the average home cost 4.6 times the average salary. In Gateshead they were 4.9 times the average, and in Darlington they were 5 times the average.

Across the UK, the average home was sold for £282,000 in the year to January. That’s compared to an average full-time salary of £34,963 a year. It means the average house costs 8.1 times the average salary in the UK. Burnley is the most affordable local authority in the country, with the average home in the area costing 3.3 times the average salary. Kensington and Chelsea is the least affordable place to buy a home, with the average house costing 28.6 times the average salary.

Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/least-affordable-place-buy-home-28866021