The postcode TS2 in Middlesbrough is the most affordable place in the UK to buy a home, while SW7 in London is the least, new research has found.

A prospective buyer would have to earn just £2.15 per hour to afford a mortgage in the Teesside town. That rises to an hourly income of £186.66 for those wishing to buy in the capital’s South Kensington.

The blinds maker web-blinds.co.uk analysed the average house price in each of Britain’s 2,643 postcodes to find how much would be needed to be earned per hour to live in each area.

The 10 most affordable postcodes in the UK

Postcode	Town/city	Region	Hourly income needed
BD1	Bradford	Yorkshire	£4.01
CF43	Ferndale	South Wales	£4.07
NP24	New Tredegar	South Wales	£4.44
CF42	Treochy	South Wales	£4.86
G34	Glasgow	Scotland	£3.51
TS2	Middlesbrough	North East	£2.15
TS1	Middlesbrough	North East	£3.94
SR1	Sunderland	North East	£4.01
TS3	Middlesbrough	North East	£4.85
DN31	Grimsby	East Midlands	£3.93

They calculated this by taking the average house price in each postcode and, based on a buyer with a 20pc deposit, worked out the mortgage repayments based on a 2.63pc interest rate for a 25-year term.

Four of the 10 most affordable postcodes are in the north east and three are in south Wales.

Unsurprisingly, all 10 of the most expensive postcodes to buy a property are in west and south-west London. SW7 tops the table, followed by W8, which covers Kensington, and SW3, the postcode for Chelsea and part of Knightsbridge.

Buying a home in these exclusive enclaves would require an hourly income of £180.27 and £170.32 respectively.

Looking at slightly larger areas, web-blinds.co.uk also figured out the least and most expensive areas to buy property. South Wales again featured heavily among the UK’s most affordable towns, accounting for seven of the top 10.

The 10 most affordable areas in the UK

Town/city	South Wales	Hourly income needed
Ferndale	South Wales	£4.07
New Tredegar	South Wales	£4.44
Treorchy	South Wales	£4.86
Tonypandy	South Wales	£5.42
Abertillery	SouthWales	£5.46
Mountain Ash	South Wales	£5.48
Pentre	South Wales	£5.53
Stevenson	North Ayreshire	£5.30
Sanquhar	Dumfries & Galloway	£5.42
Moor Row	Cumbria	£5.13

In contrast, all 10 of the least affordable places to live in the UK are within 50 miles of London. Commuter town Virginia Water crowns the list, with would-be homeowners needing to earn £84.84 an hour in order to purchase a home. Cobham in Surrey and Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire round out the top three.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average male worker in the UK earns £13.60 an hour before tax, and the average female worker earns £12.24. They would have to work for around 50 hours a day to live in Virginia Water – something they might find tricky to put into practice.

The 10 least affordable areas in the UK

Town/city	Region	Hourly income needed
Virginia Water	Surrey	£84.84
Cobham	Surrey	£74.76
Beaconsfield	Buckinghamshire	£70.58
Radlett	Hertfordshire	£68.75
Central London	London	£63.72
Esher	Surrey	£62.13
Gerrards Cross	Buckinghamshire	£61.77
Northwood	London	£57.81
Chalfont St. Giles	Buckinghamshire	£57.77
Ascot	Bershire	£56.06

These results are the latest evidence of the UK’s north-south divide.

The north east is the only region in the UK where house prices have still not recovered to their pre-financial crisis peak, according to the ONS, remaining 6pc below their September 2007 level.

The average house price in the north east is £130,000, 2.5pc higher than a year ago. Meanwhile, the average property in London costs £482,000 – more than three times the price of a home in the north east.

Overall, the average house price in the UK increased by £10,000 last year. The annual rise of 4.9pc outstrips the 2.6pc increase in wages in the last three months of 2016, leading estate agents to warn that the housing market is reaching a “crisis point”.

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