Do you ever look around at your squalid rented flat, your hard-as-nails mattress and your irritating housemates and just think, wouldn't it be nice to own my own place one day?
Yeah, us too.
Well luckily Web Blinds have created a new, interactive online tool which lets you investigate, by postcode, where in the UK you can afford to live.
Easy to use, you simply put your desired postcode into the tool and it calculates how much you need to earn per hour to be able to afford to buy a house there, based on average prices.
But don't get too excited; depending on how much you earn it may just end up making you feel as miserable as the time you found out love was dead when Chris Pratt and Anna Faris split up. Because you won't be surprised to hear that the popular area of Brixton in London, for example, requires you to earn more than £50 an hour if you're hoping to buy there any time soon. Cool, yeah, got that no problem.
Chin, up, though. If you wanted to buy somewhere near the centre of Manchester, the tool reveals you'll need to be earning anywhere between £13.28 and £21.76 an hour, which is a bit more attainable for most.
Everyone's clicking on...
Here, give the tool a go yourself.
After homeless charity Shelter recommended housing prices should be no more than 35 per cent of a person's income, Web Blinds have also put together a list of the 10 most and least affordable areas of the UK to buy, just so you know what you're working with here.
When it comes to affordable areas, Wales tops the list, with someone needing to earn just £4.03 an hour to be able to buy their own home in Ferndale, South Wales. This is a stark contrast to the £84.84 an hour needed to become a homeowner in Virginia Water, Surrey.
10 most affordable places in the UK to buy a house
- Ferndale, South Wales - £4.03 (income needed per hour to own a home here)
- New Tredegar, South Wales - £4.44
- Treorchy, South Wales - £4.86
- Moor Row, Cumbria - £5.13
- Stevenston, North Ayreshire - £5.30
- Sanquhar, Dumfries & Galloway - £5.42
- Tonypandy, South Wales - £5.42
- Abertillery, South Wales - £5.46
- Mountain Ash, South Wales - £5.48
- Pentre, South Wales - £5.53
10 least affordable places in the UK to buy a house
- Virginia Water, Surrey - £84.84
- Cobham, Surrey - £74.76
- Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire - £70.58
- Radlett, Hertfordshire - £68.75
- Central London, London - £63.72
- Esher, Surrey - £62.13
- Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire - £61.77
- Northwood, London - £57.81
- Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire - £57.77
- Ascot, Berkshire - £56.06
"Being able to see in monetary figures the huge difference between what someone would need to earn to buy a property in the most and least affordable areas of the country is pretty shocking to see," says Melissa Benedict, spokesperson for www.web-blinds.com.
"The tool has analysed every postcode in the UK, so employers might need to prepare themselves for members of staff asking for pay rises once they've had a go!"
You betcha. How do you think asking for £50 an hour will go down?
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Cat is Cosmopolitan UK's features editor covering women's issues, health and current affairs. news, features and health. The route to her heart is a simple combination of pasta and cheese (somewhat ironic considering the whole health writing thing), and she finds it difficult to commit to TV series so currently has about 14 different ones on the go.
Emma-Louise Pritchard is the Membership Director for Country Living UK & House Beautiful UK, previously Executive Digital Editor for Country Living UK. Emma-Louise is a digital expert specialising in content strategy, social media and newsletters. Her topics include sustainability, homes and interiors, gardening, health and wellbeing, pets, travel and countryside news. She has previously written for Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan and has won several awards, from AOP Digital Editor of the Year 2019 to PPA 30 Under 30. Emma-Louise studied at Cardiff University where she completed an MA in Magazine Journalism.
