HOMES in Hull have been named the most affordable in the country.
More than 89 per cent of houses in the city are within financial reach for first-time buyers, a study has found.
And 98 per cent are affordable to people looking to rent a house in the area.
The figures were released this week by property search engine Adzuna, which conducted a study into the affordability of cities in the UK.
Student Ellie Sargent, 21, said renting a house in the city was "unbelievably cheap".
Ellie, who lived in Newland Avenue, west Hull, before transferring to Brighton University last year, said: "When I rented a house with my friends in Hull, we each only paid £67 a week.
"This included all of our bills, except for the internet.
"Now I live in Brighton, I pay almost double that per week and have to pay all my bills on top of that."
The study compared typical house prices with average local couples' earnings to produce an affordability index for house- hunters.
The index suggests first-time home buyers should head to northern locations such as Hull, Sunderland and Manchester, where average property prices – at just under £160,000 – are only two-and-a- half times the earnings of average local couples.
Belfast was named the most affordable place to buy a house – with Winchester, Guildford and London among the most unaffordable.
Hull also ranked highly among the most affordable places to rent a home in the UK – second only to Dudley in the West Midlands.
Yorkshire and Humberside was named the second most affordable region in the country, beaten only by Northern Ireland.
Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter said: "It is fascinating to get such a clear view of the differences in home affordability across the UK by combining the data from our property and jobs search engines.
"With clear indicators of house price stagnation across the country, pockets of opportunity are springing up for those looking to pick up a bargain."
The figures come after a study last week found that homeowners in Hull are some of the proudest in the country.
The city was ranked among the top ten UK places that residents take pride in, according to a national survey by property website Rightmove. It ranked seventh out of 110 cities.
Hull was also voted seventh for value in the study, which saw almost 40,000 homeowners around the country rank the area they lived in based on 12 "happiness" factors. But the city came in the bottom 20 for investment and contentment.
