According to research from Confused.com, the top seven most affordable areas for first-time buyers were all in Scotland, with Inverclyde the most economical with an average first time houses priced at £89,474.

North Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire were the second and third most inexpensive areas to get on the property ladder, at £100,638 and £110,357 respectively.

Burnley was the cheapest place to buy a place in England for the first time at an average of  £104,041.

The most expensive areas for first-time buyers

At the other end of the scale, the study showed that in Kensington and Chelsea the median cost of owning your first home was an eye-watering £1,129,349.

In Westminster, you would need to spend £793,796 to buy your first home, while in North London’s Camden, the cost of your first home would be £712,742.

First-time buyers still biggest purchase cohort

The research also revealed that 52% of all home purchase loans came from first-time buyers. Overall, there were 362,461 first-time buyers in the UK during  2022.

The comparison site’s research showed that there has been an increase in first-time buyers over the past decade, up from 211,920.

The average age of the first-time buyer has also increased to 32 last year from 30 a decade ago, the study discovered.

London and the South East are the regions where first-time buyers have to wait the longest,  the average age to take that first step on the property ladder is 33.

Whereas the North West, Scotland, South West and Wales all have a below-average age of 31 for first time buying.

Meanwhile, the East and West Midlands, East of England and Northern Ireland, all matched the nationwide average of 32.

First-time buyer deposits increase

The survey found that that average deposit that was needed by first-time buyers was £62,470 in 2022. This is 21% of the average purchase price, which reached £302,010.

In comparison to the previous year in 2021, the deposit average for last year was 8% higher, reflecting the spiralling prices in the property market across the UK.

There was huge regional disparities found in the study over the amount needed to put a deposit on a property between last year and 2021.

In London, the figure was £125,378, just under a quarter of the city’s average property price.

While Northern Ireland has seen its average deposit increase the most, by 11% from £29,912 to £33,199.

Some regions saw the deposit total remain stable, as there was little change in deposit totals for North East, Wales and the East of England.