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Thursday 05 November 2015 7:54 pm

First-time buyers need £50k per year to get on the property ladder – GoCompare

By: Billy Bambrough

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The average UK salary of £22,000 is less than half the average needed to get on the property ladder, research from comparison website GoCompare has found.

On average a minimum household income of £50,000 is required, with a 90 per cent mortgage.

Unsurprisingly, London was found to be the most unaffordable, with household incomes of at least £140,000 a year needed to buy a flat and £275,000 for a detached house.

The median average salary in the capital is just £30,338.

Ben Wilson, home insurance expert at Gocompare.com, said: “London’s high prices are well documented, but it’s in other parts of the south of England that the gap between average salary and average house price is at its most alarming, with places like Brighton requiring a minimum household income of £180,000 to afford a detached house.”

At the other end of the scale, Blackburn came in at the most affordable place to buy in the UK, where a salary of £14,000 is enough to buy a flat.

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