Payotte study · First-time buyers · 134 areas

How much less first-time buyers pay, area by area

Name: How much less first-time buyers pay, area by area
Creator: Payotte
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The average price paid by first-time buyers compared with the average home in 135 UK areas, August 2026, from the UK House Price Index.

Computed by Payotte from the UK House Price Index (August 2026) and the purchase tax rates of each nation, read on the official pages on 2026-10-14.

In short

First-time buyers pay less than the average buyer everywhere Payotte looked. The gap is widest in St Albans (−26.6%), Horsham (−26.5%), Buckinghamshire (−25.9%) and narrowest in Tower Hamlets (−3.9%), Sandwell (−4.9%), City of Kingston upon Hull (−5.6%).

All 134 areas

#	Area	Nation	First-time buyer price	All buyers	Gap
1	St Albans	England	£481,627	£655,974	−26.6%
2	Horsham	England	£324,417	£441,491	−26.5%
3	Buckinghamshire	England	£353,944	£477,450	−25.9%
4	East Dunbartonshire	Scotland	£206,994	£273,891	−24.4%
5	Mid Sussex	England	£327,144	£431,904	−24.3%
6	New Forest	England	£291,458	£384,564	−24.2%
7	Test Valley	England	£286,803	£372,289	−23%
8	Stratford-on-Avon	England	£307,646	£396,711	−22.5%
9	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	£156,104	£200,965	−22.3%
10	Rutland	England	£240,213	£307,406	−21.9%
11	East Hertfordshire	England	£356,853	£455,973	−21.7%
12	Dorset	England	£257,241	£328,589	−21.7%
13	North Somerset	England	£246,206	£314,307	−21.7%
14	South Hams	England	£284,923	£360,616	−21%
15	Clackmannanshire	Scotland	£135,370	£171,154	−20.9%
16	South Lanarkshire	Scotland	£147,423	£186,196	−20.8%
17	Babergh	England	£262,771	£331,207	−20.7%
18	South Ayrshire	Scotland	£138,285	£173,126	−20.1%
19	Solihull	England	£265,849	£332,022	−19.9%
20	Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole	England	£248,778	£310,176	−19.8%
21	Wiltshire	England	£263,201	£328,102	−19.8%
22	Harborough	England	£274,706	£341,706	−19.6%
23	West Lothian	Scotland	£181,430	£225,439	−19.5%
24	Trafford	England	£317,404	£393,897	−19.4%
25	West Devon	England	£231,506	£286,921	−19.3%
26	North Yorkshire	England	£218,075	£270,080	−19.3%
27	Teignbridge	England	£241,001	£298,159	−19.2%
28	Shropshire	England	£224,381	£277,521	−19.1%
29	Highland	Scotland	£181,744	£224,574	−19.1%
30	Cheshire East	England	£252,798	£311,897	−18.9%
31	North Hertfordshire	England	£343,025	£422,835	−18.9%
32	Eastleigh	England	£253,901	£312,753	−18.8%
33	East Suffolk	England	£227,188	£277,949	−18.3%
34	East Ayrshire	Scotland	£113,017	£138,206	−18.2%
35	Mid Suffolk	England	£260,075	£317,979	−18.2%
36	Worthing	England	£245,915	£299,075	−17.8%
37	Northumberland	England	£175,253	£213,113	−17.8%
38	Somerset	England	£232,749	£282,498	−17.6%
39	South Staffordshire	England	£254,371	£308,695	−17.6%
40	Warwick	England	£305,880	£370,924	−17.5%
41	Cornwall	England	£226,508	£274,570	−17.5%
42	Cheshire West and Chester	England	£223,667	£270,534	−17.3%
43	Bedford	England	£273,305	£330,462	−17.3%
44	Merton	England	£515,923	£623,791	−17.3%
45	Powys	Wales	£196,672	£237,042	−17%
46	West Northamptonshire	England	£240,551	£289,726	−17%
47	Warrington	England	£215,884	£259,224	−16.7%
48	Moray	Scotland	£169,409	£203,371	−16.7%
49	Fife	Scotland	£152,262	£182,463	−16.6%
50	East Riding of Yorkshire	England	£183,537	£219,871	−16.5%
51	Falkirk	Scotland	£145,407	£174,164	−16.5%
52	Breckland	England	£223,317	£266,835	−16.3%
53	City of Edinburgh	Scotland	£252,487	£301,313	−16.2%
54	Croydon	England	£332,560	£396,718	−16.2%
55	Milton Keynes	England	£271,609	£323,868	−16.1%
56	Westmorland and Furness	England	£194,242	£231,161	−16%
57	Brighton and Hove	England	£343,329	£408,240	−15.9%
58	Wandsworth	England	£585,383	£694,210	−15.7%
59	City of Aberdeen	Scotland	£112,915	£133,782	−15.6%
60	Central Bedfordshire	England	£299,948	£355,263	−15.6%
61	Kensington and Chelsea	England	£1,020,436	£1,204,072	−15.3%
62	South Gloucestershire	England	£284,510	£335,572	−15.2%
63	North Lanarkshire	Scotland	£136,760	£161,163	−15.1%
64	Charnwood	England	£229,590	£270,351	−15.1%
65	Adur	England	£322,256	£378,990	−15%
66	Wrexham	Wales	£183,250	£215,035	−14.8%
67	Hammersmith and Fulham	England	£643,534	£754,825	−14.7%
68	Tendring	England	£222,460	£260,636	−14.6%
69	Telford and Wrekin	England	£189,436	£221,853	−14.6%
70	Sefton	England	£189,330	£221,105	−14.4%
71	Wirral	England	£190,039	£221,673	−14.3%
72	North East Derbyshire	England	£216,906	£253,012	−14.3%
73	York	England	£267,559	£311,865	−14.2%
74	North Northamptonshire	England	£217,161	£252,884	−14.1%
75	Hinckley and Bosworth	England	£222,454	£258,960	−14.1%
76	Flintshire	Wales	£184,800	£214,882	−14%
77	Cardiff	Wales	£234,533	£272,443	−13.9%
78	Exeter	England	£249,707	£289,403	−13.7%
79	Kirklees	England	£179,924	£208,427	−13.7%
80	Bassetlaw	England	£183,215	£211,488	−13.4%
81	Rossendale	England	£175,367	£201,483	−13%
82	North Tyneside	England	£179,127	£205,554	−12.9%
83	Camden	England	£696,585	£798,486	−12.8%
84	Leeds	England	£215,025	£246,385	−12.7%
85	Southwark	England	£497,815	£569,160	−12.5%
86	Newcastle upon Tyne	England	£185,133	£211,255	−12.4%
87	Lambeth	England	£474,320	£540,198	−12.2%
88	City of Peterborough	England	£203,657	£231,634	−12.1%
89	Bury	England	£214,424	£243,107	−11.8%
90	Calderdale	England	£174,353	£197,651	−11.8%
91	Lewisham	England	£429,182	£486,416	−11.8%
92	Bolton	England	£180,018	£203,951	−11.7%
93	Sheffield	England	£192,153	£217,603	−11.7%
94	Greenwich	England	£409,131	£462,868	−11.6%
95	Cumberland	England	£152,989	£172,654	−11.4%
96	North Lincolnshire	England	£159,863	£180,345	−11.4%
97	Blaby	England	£260,507	£293,412	−11.2%
98	Dudley	England	£207,742	£233,819	−11.2%
99	City of Bristol	England	£314,404	£353,596	−11.1%
100	Halton	England	£168,586	£189,435	−11%
101	Lancaster	England	£181,499	£203,781	−10.9%
102	County Durham	England	£125,556	£140,788	−10.8%
103	Southampton	England	£210,366	£235,729	−10.8%
104	City of Westminster	England	£791,770	£887,206	−10.8%
105	Wakefield	England	£178,078	£199,283	−10.6%
106	City of Plymouth	England	£199,602	£223,229	−10.6%
107	Ipswich	England	£202,302	£226,175	−10.6%
108	Crawley	England	£297,902	£332,097	−10.3%
109	Rotherham	England	£171,413	£191,052	−10.3%
110	Bradford	England	£166,791	£185,297	−10%
111	City of Glasgow	Scotland	£175,016	£194,382	−10%
112	South Tyneside	England	£145,120	£160,518	−9.6%
113	Wigan	England	£175,758	£194,393	−9.6%
114	Nuneaton and Bedworth	England	£205,231	£226,730	−9.5%
115	Gateshead	England	£141,251	£156,036	−9.5%
116	Doncaster	England	£156,486	£172,770	−9.4%
117	Birmingham	England	£212,774	£234,867	−9.4%
118	Hackney	England	£561,870	£619,408	−9.3%
119	Coventry	England	£207,081	£227,721	−9.1%
120	St Helens	England	£169,943	£186,445	−8.9%
121	Oldham	England	£198,052	£217,214	−8.8%
122	Wolverhampton	England	£197,788	£215,801	−8.3%
123	Tameside	England	£195,881	£213,026	−8%
124	Walsall	England	£199,456	£216,878	−8%
125	Liverpool	England	£173,916	£188,427	−7.7%
126	Salford	England	£206,393	£223,323	−7.6%
127	Knowsley	England	£177,210	£191,550	−7.5%
128	Bolsover	England	£169,721	£183,198	−7.4%
129	Leicester	England	£210,898	£226,881	−7%
130	Hyndburn	England	£133,390	£142,964	−6.7%
131	Manchester	England	£241,449	£256,760	−6%
132	City of Kingston upon Hull	England	£128,899	£136,593	−5.6%
133	Sandwell	England	£196,942	£207,065	−4.9%
134	Tower Hamlets	England	£430,635	£447,950	−3.9%

How Payotte computed it

Average price of first-time buyer purchases compared with the average price of all purchases, same area and month (UK House Price Index).

Prices: average prices of the UK House Price Index for August 2026, published by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services and the ONS. Each area links to its page, with the ten-year trend and a calculator. The data is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with a link to this page.

Other Payotte studies

Sources

UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services Northern Ireland, ONS). Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2020. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
GOV.UK, Stamp Duty Land Tax: residential property rates (HMRC); Higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (HMRC, last updated 1 April 2025)
Revenue Scotland, LBTT residential property (rates and bands as of 1 April 2021, first-time buyer relief); Scottish Budget 2025-2026: ADS rate 8% for contracts on or after 5 December 2024
Welsh Government, Land Transaction Tax rates and bands (main residential rates from 10 October 2022, higher residential rates from 11 December 2024)

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