East Ayrshire is the most affordable place to live in the UK, according to Nationwide Building Society.

Using Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, the building society revealed the most and least affordable areas for first-time buyers in Britain – with East Ayrshire coming out on top.

The area has average first-time buyer house prices at 2.3 times typical earnings, and was only rivalled closely by Copeland in the North West of England.

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The most affordable areas in each nation or region in the UK are:

  1. East Ayrshire, Scotland
  2. Copeland, North West
  3. County Durham, North East
  4. Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
  5. Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands
  6. North East Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Humber
  7. Bolsover, East Midlands
  8. Great Yarmouth, East of England
  9. Swindon, South West
  10. Dover, South East
  11. Bromley, London 

The City of Edinburgh was ranked one of the least affordable areas in the UK but came much further down the list behind places such as Kensington and Chelsea in London, which was classed the least affordable location in Britain for people trying to get on the property ladder.

The least affordable areas of each region or nation in the UK are:

  1. Kensington and Chelsea, London
  2. Hertsmere, East of England
  3. Oxford, South East
  4. Bath and North East Somerset, South West
  5. Rutland, East Midlands
  6. Ryedale, Yorkshire
  7. Redditch, West Midlands
  8. South Lakeland, North West
  9. Cardiff, Wales
  10. City of Edinburgh, Scotland

Andrew Harvey, senior economist at Nationwide, said: “In Wales and Scotland, the respective capital cities see strong demand for housing and have the highest house price to earnings ratios.

“In Scotland, the city of Aberdeen has seen the greatest improvement in affordability, with average first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio declining from 4.7 to 3.2 in the last five years. This is predominantly due to the 28% fall in average prices over the period, though incomes have also risen by 7%.

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“Affordability gains in other regions have been more modest. Overall, 25% of local authorities in Great Britain have seen an improvement in affordability compared with 2015.”