Property website Zoopla has crunched the numbers to find the areas with the highest proportion of family homes within reach of a typical household.
Here, Which? highlights where your money could go furthest, examines the best cities for first-time buyers and explains how changing mortgage rates could affect your buying budget.
The most affordable towns
To identify the most affordable areas, Zoopla analysed the proportion of two and three-bedroom houses priced below £301,000.
The property portal's research assumes buyers have a combined household income of £53,000, a mortgage worth 4.5 times their income and a 20% deposit. The analysis excludes flats, shared ownership properties and homes sold at auction.
In Scotland, four towns had all of the two and three-bedroom properties listed at an affordable price: Keith, Alloa, Kilwinning and Arbroath.
The town with the highest proportion of affordable properties outside of Scotland was Bootle, in the North West. Just 2% were above the £301,000 threshold.
Wales' most affordable town is Treorchy, according to the research. It found that four of Wales's five hotspots are in the South Wales Valleys, including Treorchy, Pentre, Mountain Ash and Porth.
For buyers searching for affordable properties in the South East, East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, has the highest proportion of homes below the threshold, at 77%.
The three towns with the highest proportion of affordable homes in each region:
How affordability differs across Great BritainAt a regional level, the North East has the highest proportion of affordable homes. Scotland is not far behind. It has the second highest percentage, with four in five homes considered affordable under Zoopla's criteria.
It's no surprise that London is the least affordable area in the analysis. Less than 100 homes are priced below £301,000 in the capital, and the average asking price is £542,500, according to Zoopla's house price index.
The South East also has a very low proportion of affordable homes for the typical couple, with just one in four below the £301,000 threshold.
| Area | Affordable houses (nearest 100) | Share 2026 | Average asking price |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | 4,300 | 83% | £155,000 |
| Scotland | 3,300 | 80% | £207,500 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 10,400 | 76% | £210,000 |
| East Midlands | 12,600 | 74% | £227,500 |
| Wales | 7,400 | 72% | £219,500 |
| North West | 10,300 | 71% | £217,500 |
| West Midlands | 9,800 | 64% | £245,000 |
| South West | 10,500 | 47% | £290,000 |
| East of England | 8,500 | 39% | £317,500 |
| South East | 7,100 | 23% | £375,000 |
| London | <100 | 0.50% | £542,500 |
| Great Britain | 84,300 | 51% | £293,200 |