The Cheapest Homes in The UK
Looking for a house is one of the most stressful activities we put ourselves through. For first-time buyers, the prospect of getting onto the property ladder at all can be pretty daunting, let alone in a desired location. Most people looking to buy a house can’t afford to be choosy about where they live, and even if you find a region you’re happy with – be it for work, or to be near friends and family –the chances are you will have to make compromises about the specific area you live in.
A Top Ten least expensive homes list has just been published, but if any of the prices take your fancy, you’d better brush up on your Welsh – eight out of ten of them are in South Wales.
Ferndale in the Rhondda Valleys is the cheapest, with an average house costing just £29,693.
Elsewhere, Moor Row in Cumbria has houses on the market for around £42,000, and you can expect to pay roughly the same in Shildon, Durham.
As ever, it’s best to take such lists with a grain of salt. The housing market fluctuates so much in such a short period of time, that it’s hard to trust “average” figures, but at least you know where to start looking. In this case, the list – compiled from Land Registry figures – has been put together using average prices taken since 2000 – a long time in the world of property.
And although South Wales is undoubtedly a cheap place to buy, the list neglects to mention many cheap areas – including Scotland. Montrose in Fife has properties on the market from £33,000 and you can buy in Cumbernauld near Glasgow for £34,995.
As a general guide, getting those low mortgage rates will mean living away from major cities, and you can expect to be buying a no-frills ex-council house if you want to part with less than £70,000.
You should always do your own research on property prices as and when you start looking, but as a starting point, here is the Land Registry Top Ten least expensive homes:
1. Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf - £29,693
2. New Tredegar, Caerphilly - £34,267
3. Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taf - £36,263
4. Pentre, Rhondda Cynon Taf - £37,404
5. Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf - £38,300
6. Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent - £38,906
7. Tredegar, Caerphilly, - £39,000
8. Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf - £39,344
9. Moor Row, Cumbria - £41,604
10. Shildon, Durham - £42,702
For nationwide property searches, visit fish4.com. To compare mortgage rates across the country, visit Alliance & Leicester.
