Revealed: Oxford Is 'Most Expensive City'

Oxford is the UK's least affordable city, a study finds, because homes there cost 11 times the average local wage.

According to the report, by Lloyds Bank, the average cost of a property in the university city was almost £341,000.

Winchester, Truro, Bath and Brighton made up the top five list of "least affordable" places to live, while Westminster in central London came in seventh place.

Although property prices in Westminster are among the highest in the UK, relatively high earnings in the heart of London stopped Westminster from coming higher on the list.

The study suggested that city living had become less affordable over the last year - largely a result of stagnant wage growth and surging house prices.

It said the price of a home in a large town or city grew by 5% over the last year to reach £184,215 on average - or 5.8 times someone's average earnings.

Stirling in Scotland and Londonderry in Northern Ireland were named as the UK's most affordable cities to live in, with house prices in those areas typically costing 3.3 times and 3.6 times local earnings respectively.

Glasgow, Belfast, Lisburn, Bradford, Lancaster and Salford all featured among the most affordable urban areas to live.

York was the only northern city to make the line-up of the UK's least affordable cities, at number 20.

A home in York costs nearly six times average wages, while one in nearby cities like Hull and Sheffield would set someone back just over four-and-a-half times their earnings.

The report pointed to the large numbers of people living in Oxford who commute to London to work as part of the reason why house prices there are particularly out of step with local wages.

A year ago, a house in Oxford cost 9.8 times local earnings.

The UK housing market has picked up sharply in some areas over the last year amid Government schemes such as Help to Buy, which have unleashed a wave of fresh demand into the property market from people who had previously struggled to get access to a mortgage.

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