There’s plenty to take into consideration when you are looking to buy your first home. It’s one of the biggest investments you’ll make in your life, so it pays to do the research on where you can afford to live.
Using Zoopla’s data, you can find average house prices and how much a first time buyer needs to earn and save for a deposit to buy a home in the UK.
If you’re looking for the best places to live in Nottingham, our map, below, shows you the areas that are most affordable for first time buyers.
(Click on map for larger version)
Quick pointers for first time buyers in Nottingham:
The average first time buyer property (two-to-three-bedroom house) in Nottingham costs £161,228, with the average deposit required being £23,797.
A first time buyer household would require and average income of £34,358.
Nottingham compares favourably to the rest of the UK when it comes to affordability. The average house price to local earnings ratio for the city stands at 5.63, in comparison to the UK average of 7.61. However, banks and building societies will typically only lend up to four times annual income, so it may still be a stretch to get on the property ladder.
One area with a house price to income ratio that would meet lenders criteria is NG11, where you can buy a home for 3.93 times local earnings. This area sits to the south west of the city and contains Clifton, Ruddington, Gotham and Kingston on Soar.
The area with the lowest income required is NG6 to the north of Nottingham - including Bestwood Village, Bulwell and Old Basford - where the average first time buyer house price stands at £115,512. To buy there, you would typically need a deposit of £17,050 and require a household income of £24,616.
Nottingham has an estimated population of 323,700 people (Census 2021), plus 43,300 university students. Its vibrant city centre and strong employment figures make it a hit for first-time buyers, students and families alike.
Discover more about living in Nottingham.
| Postcode | Area | Average house price | Average deposit required | Average household income required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NG6 | Bestwood Village, Bulwell, Old Basford | £115,512 | £17,050 | £24,616 |
| NG21 | Rainworth, Edwinstowe, Clipstone | £120,710 | £17,817 | £25,723 |
| NG7 | New Basford, Forest Fields, Hyson Green, Radford, Lenton | £121,150 | £17,882 | £25,817 |
| NG8 | Aspley, Wollaton, Whitemoor, Bilborough, Strelley | £130,780 | £19,303 | £27,869 |
| DE7 | Ilkeston | £133,048 | £19,638 | £28,352 |
| DE75 | Heanor | £133,913 | £19,765 | £28,537 |
| NG3 | Carlton, Sneinton, St Ann's, Mapperley | £135,281 | £19,967 | £28,828 |
| NG15 | Hucknall, Ravenshead, Newstead | £142,156 | £20,982 | £30,293 |
| NG11 | Clifton, Ruddington, Gotham, Kingston on Soar | £142,393 | £21,017 | £30,344 |
| NG16 | Kimberley, Langley Mill, Eastwood, Selston | £144,910 | £21,389 | £30,880 |
First time buyer affordability in the East Midlands
In certain areas of the UK, especially London and the South East, it's almost impossible to find postcode areas where average salaries are high enough to get the mortgage you would need to get on the housing ladder.
The good news with Nottingham and the wider East Midlands region is that, in many cases, four times average earnings will be enough for first time buyers to take an initial step on to the property ladder.
Try to the north of Nottingham in Worksop and Mansfield, where prices in both towns fall within the four-times salary requirement typically needed to obtain a mortgage. First time buyers in these areas can expect to pay an average of £94,492 and £97,980 respectively.
Homes for first time buyers in the East Midlands cost £174,301 on average, requiring a deposit of £25,727 and a household income of £37,144. This makes Nottingham slightly more affordable than its surrounding area.
If you’re looking south of Nottingham it becomes increasingly difficult to find homes that require an income of less than £30,000. However, there are still pockets of affordability in Leicester, while to the east you can find options in Grantham and Boston.
Property prices start to rise considerably if you take your search south into Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire.
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How have we calculated it?
We've looked at the average price of two-to-three bedroom homes – the most common type of property purchase for first time buyers in Nottingham.
We've then taken the average mortgage advance from mortgage lenders in the region and worked out the average deposit and salary required for the loan (based on four times' salary).
How can I afford a home as a first time buyer?
Building as big a deposit as possible is the first step. This allows you to borrow a lower percentage of the value of the property and access better mortgage rates.
Aim for a minimum 10% deposit. It is possible to put down less in some cases, but this means less favourable mortgage rate and higher monthly repayments.
If you are struggling to raise a deposit, check out Help to Buy where the Government will lend you up to 20% of the purchase price interest-free for the first five years through an equity loan scheme.
Alternatively you could look at the shared ownership scheme through your local housing association where you can purchase between 25-75% of the property and pay an affordable rent on the remainder.
Provided your credit ratingis in good order and your monthly outgoings do not limit your ability to repay a mortgage, banks and building societies will lend up to around four times your salary.
If you are buying as a couple, then combining your incomes will mean you can borrow more and increase your chances of stepping on to the housing ladder.
Don’t forget that, when buying a home, there will be other fees for licensed conveyancers and and moving costs. Everything should be explained to you, but check there are also no hidden fees such as annual maintenance costs you weren't expecting.
The good news is that stamp duty land tax is waived for first time buyers on the first £300,000 of the purchase. To see how stamp duty might affect you, check out Zoopla's stamp duty calculator.
For more help purchasing your first home, read our first time buyers guides.
First time buyer affordability in the UK
If you're prepared to cast your search further afield, then our first time buyer affordability map of the UK, will help. There are still plenty of areas where those with household earnings of under £30,000 can afford property.
But remember that while the UK map might prove a helpful overview, in practice, UK property markets operate on a hyper-local level.
This means that researching cities down to even a street-by-street level will give you the best chance of getting the best value property.
Full methodology: House prices taken from a subset of Zoopla-partner Hometrack's stock valuation database (one-to-two beds for London and two-to-three bedrooms for rest of UK). Median price calculated as of June 2018. Median advance taken by region (c75% for London, c85% outside of London) from UK Finance. Term of Mortgage: 25 years. Interest rate: 2.00%. Loan to income ratio: 4.0. Earnings required for affordability is greater of those required to satisfy loan-to-income threshold or income required to service the mortgage.