Bradford is the cheapest city to be a first-time buyer, according to analysis from Rightmove.

The research shows the average asking price for a typical first-time buyer type property in Bradford is £104,643, with the average monthly mortgage payment now £521 per month.

The data analysed the average monthly mortgage payment of a typical first-time buyer type property (two bedrooms and fewer) and the equivalent monthly rent in cities across Great Britain. 

The data assumes first-time buyers are taking out a five-year fixed, 90% loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage at the best-buy rate of 4.45%, spread over 25 years.

The research identified Carlisle as the second cheapest city to be a first-time buyer, with an average monthly mortgage payment of £522, followed by Aberdeen (£528 per month) and Hull (£532 per month).

Meanwhile, St Albans is the most expensive city to be a first-time buyer excluding London, with average monthly mortgage payments for a first-time buyer type home now £1,958, followed by Bath (£1,765 per month) and Cambridge (£1,763 per month).

According to the analysis, it’s cheaper to pay a monthly mortgage on a first-time buyer type home than rent in half of cities for those who are able to save a 10% deposit. 

This increases to two-thirds of cities if first-time buyers can save up a 15% deposit, therefore reducing their monthly payments, with many parts of Great Britain seeing record rents and a significant gap between demand and availability of rental homes.

First-time buyers in Glasgow make the biggest savings in cash terms by getting on the ladder, with the average monthly mortgage payment for a first home being £215 per month cheaper than the average rent, while first-time buyers in St Albans see the biggest increase in monthly payments when purchasing a first home of £525 compared to the equivalent rent.

Rightmove’s property expert Tim Bannister said: “For those who are able to save up the deposit, it’s still cheaper to pay off a mortgage as a first-time buyer in many areas than pay the equivalent in monthly rent, despite prices reaching a new record at a national level and mortgage rates rising. 

“It highlights how frenetic the rental market has been for a long time now, with many areas continuing to see record rents and fierce competition between tenants for the properties available. 

“It helps to explain why we’re seeing such determination from first-time buyers to continue to get onto the ladder despite the economic headwinds that they face, and why we’re seeing buyers increasingly return to cities while a bigger proportion of renters are looking to move away.”