According to research from Nationwide Building Society, Cumnock is - still - one of the most affordable authorities for first time buyers in Britain.

The Nationwide analysis suggests first time buyers can face spending at least six times their annual wages to get on the property ladder in nearly half of Britain’s local authority areas.

In 2016, just over a third of local authority areas had average house price-to-earnings ratios of six or more.

However, East Ayrshire was named the most affordable place for first time buyers in Britain.

Buyers looking to purchase a home in East Ayrshire would spend just under two and a half times their earnings, with a ration of 2.4 - compared to the most unaffordable in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where prospective buyers would spend almost a whopping 15 times their earnings.

Cumnock Chronicle: Cumnock (Charlie Gilmour, Newsquest)Cumnock (Charlie Gilmour, Newsquest)

It's not the first time East Ayrshire has topped the Nationwide 'most affordable' league table.

A year ago the building society found the area's average house price for first time buyers in 2020 was 2.3 times typical earnings - even less than in 2021 - rivalled only, as it is again this year, by Copeland in north-west England.

Edinburgh was named the least affordable in Scotland with the highest house-to-earnings ratio.

Andrew Harvey, a senior economist at Nationwide, said: “East Ayrshire, in Scotland, continues to be the most affordable authority in Great Britain, with average first time buyer house prices just 2.4 times average earnings."

He said that, in Scotland, Aberdeen has seen the biggest improvement in housing affordability since 2016, largely due to house price falls there.

Least affordable local authority areas in Britain

  • London, Kensington and Chelsea
  • South East, Oxford
  • East of England, Hertsmere
  • South West, Cotswold
  • East Midlands, Rutland
  • Yorkshire and the Humber, Ryedale
  • West Midlands, Malvern Hills
  • North West, South Lakeland
  • Wales, Vale of Glamorgan
  • Scotland, City of Edinburgh
  • North East, North Tyneside

Most affordable local authority areas in Britain

  • Scotland, East Ayrshire
  • North West, Copeland
  • North East, County Durham
  • Wales, Merthyr Tydfil
  • Yorkshire and the Humber, Barnsley
  • West Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent
  • East Midlands, Bolsover
  • East of England, Great Yarmouth
  • South West, Swindon
  • South East, Southampton
  • London, Bromley