If you are single and looking to step on the property ladder the most affordable homes can be found in outer London boroughs.

The latest data from Zoopla reveals the most affordable properties for single first time buyers or home movers is in the borough of Bexley where a one-bedroom flat costs an average of £205,730.

Homeowners need to spend £776 per month on mortgage payments, almost 28% of local monthly wages, assuming you have a 15% deposit and mortgage interest of 2.0% over a 25 year term.

For the lowest prices in the country you have to located in Northern England where Sunderland is the cheapest location to buy costing an average of £53,316 for one-bedroom flats.

The mortgage repayments for a one-bedroom flat average £201 per month and based on the monthly wage of £2,187 the proportion is 9%.

Cheapest London borough flats

To get on the property ladder in the capital, the lowest mortgage repayment as a proportion of monthly wage is Bexley at 27.76% with median wages of £2,794 per month.

This table from Zoopla shows the top ten most affordable London boroughs for single first time buyers and the amount of wages they spend on mortgage repayments in 2018.

Borough	House Price	Mortgage repayments
Bexley	£205,730	27.76%
Havering	£215,542	29.11%
Bromley	£260,037	29.85%
Sutton	£233,338	30.93%
Redbridge	£229,062	31.37%
Barking and Dagenham	£213,451	32.39%
Croydon	£260,740	34.56%
Enfield	£251,167	36.59%
Harrow	£284,223	36.69%
Kingston upon Thames	£312,239	36.74%

In the top ten the highest priced properties are in Kingston upon Thames costing an average of £312,239 and mortgage payments of £1,177 per month which is 36.74% of monthly wages.

With higher house prices in the capital, buy-to-let landlords will look to outer London for affordable properties to help improve rental yields, such as Bexley or Havering.

For many remortgage buyers, without family help to upsize the only option is to stay in their existing home and continue saving more for a bigger deposit.

Annabel Dixon spokesperson for Zoopla said, getting on the property ladder can be challenging and those buying on their own will no doubt feel this even more acutely.

Zoopla’s findings provide single buyers with guidance on where to fall in love with homes that won’t break the bank, say Ms Dixon.

For home buyers priced out of the market the government’s Help to Buy scheme offers 40% of property values up to £600,000 as an interest free equity loan on new build homes .

In London the equity loan is 40% so you with your 5% deposit you only need to secure a mortgage with a LTV of 55% of the property value costing less than £600,000.

Most expensive boroughs in London

The most expensive boroughs are in central London as you would expect with Kensington and Chelsea leading average cost of £744,596 for a one-bedroom flat.

Mortgage payments are £2,808 per month which is 77.69% of wages for the borough of £3,614 per month.

This table from Zoopla shows the top ten most expensive London boroughs for single first time buyers and the amount of wages they spend on mortgage repayments in 2018.

Borough	House Price	Mortgage repayments
Kensington and Chelsea	£744,596	77.69%
City of London	£776,717	66.46%
Hackney	£489,820	63.41%
Lambeth	£496,423	62.40%
Southwark	£486,011	62.15%
Westminster	£583,776	60.10%
Hammersmith and Fulham	£514,004	59.63%
Camden	£517,078	58.49%
Tower Hamlets	£452,654	54.28%
Islington	£475,138	51.30%

The lowest house price is for Tower Hamlets with £452,654 where mortgage payments are £1,707 per month which is 54.28% of wages for the borough of £3,145 per month.

Living in the most expensive London boroughs allows equity release buyers to accessing wealth in their property using a lifetime mortgage to improve your quality of life or buy a more expensive home.

In terms of regions, the North East of England is the most affordable with mortgage repayments of 14.5% of local pay and Yorkshire and Humberside was 14.6%.

The East of England was 26.9% with the South East on 25.3% and London required single buyers to set aside double these amounts at 55.3% of income of cover mortgage costs.

What are your next steps?

Speak to our LCM mortgage advisers if you are planning to move home, buying your first home, remortgaging your existing home to a new cost effective mortgage deal or are a buy-to-let investor.

For equity release buyers our London City Mortgage brokers can recommend lifetime mortgages allowing you to receive cash from your property to help maintain your standard of living as costs rise or gift to a family member or friend.

Learn more by using the mortgage monthly cost calculators, equity release calculator and property value tracker chart. Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details.

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