Looking to move into a new area in County Durham for 2024? Those hoping to find their new forever home are in luck.

Two towns in the county have been revealed among the top 10 most affordable places to buy a home in Britain last year, according to Zoopla.

The property experts said: “We’ve looked at nearly 1,000 of the largest postal towns in Britain to see which ones have the best affordability ratio. In other words, to find the most affordable towns to buy a home in 2023.”

You can see all the research for the ‘10 most affordable areas to buy a home in Britain’ list here to find out the median value of a home, average annual income of a couple and house price to earnings ratio for each place.

2 County Durham towns among most affordable places to buy a home in Britain for 2023

Shildon and Peterlee were featured on the list and were the only locations named outside of Scotland.

Towns in Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire all dominated the list, claiming eight spaces.

  1. Cumnock, Scotland
  2. Shildon, North East
  3. Greenock, Scotland
  4. Saltcoats, Scotland
  5. Ardrossan, Scotland
  6. Girvan, Scotland
  7. Irvine, Scotland
  8. Port Glasgow, Scotland
  9. Peterlee, North East
  10. Wishaw, Scotland

Zoopla commented: “Higher mortgage rates have hit the housing market in 2023, making affordability the key consideration for anyone buying a home.

“But how do you know where houses are affordable?

“It’s all about the relationship between house prices and salaries in your chosen location.

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“We turn these into a ratio, which shows us how many times you need to multiply your annual salary to buy the average local house outright.

“It highlights that the places with the cheapest house prices aren’t always the most affordable if local wages are also low.”

They added: “Our latest analysis shows that couples have to spend 3.8 times their combined annual salary to buy the average UK home, worth £276,000.”

North East dominates in most affordable places to buy a home in England 2023 list

However, when it came to the most affordable places to buy a house in England during 2023, the North East dominated a separate list curated by Zoopla.

Aside from Shildon and Peterlee; Ashington, Stanley and Hartlepool were among those announced.

The full list according to Zoopla is as follows:

  1. Shildon, North East
  2. Peterlee, North East
  3. Ashington, North East
  4. Stanley, North East
  5. Ferryhill, North East
  6. Crook, North East
  7. Birkenhead, North West
  8. Hartlepool, North East
  9. Blyth, North East
  10. Workington, North West             

The Northern Echo: When was the last time you moved house?When was the last time you moved house? (Image: PA)

Zoopla explained: “The most affordable town in England is Shildon, County Durham, where the average home costs 1.06 times a couple’s annual salary.

“In fact, 8 out of 10 of the most affordable places to buy a home in England are in the North East, with 6 in County Durham.

“These include Peterlee, where a home costs 1.30 times a couple’s annual earnings, as well as Stanley (1.36), Ferryhill (1.42), Crook (1.48) and Hartlepool (1.61).

“Northumberland’s Ashington is the third most affordable place in England while Blyth - 8 miles south - also makes the list. These former coal mining towns have affordability ratios of 1.35 and 1.67 respectively."

They added: “We also have two entries from the North West - Birkenhead in Merseyside and Workington in Cumbria, where the average house costs less than 1.7 times a couple’s annual salary.”