East Dunbartonshire in Scotland is the most affordable place in the UK for first time home buyers, a report has found.

According to research by Halifax, the area just north of Glasgow has an average property price of £97,089, 2.6 times the gross average annual earnings in the area, making it the easiest place in the UK to buy a house.

In total, five of the ten most affordable areas for first time buyers were in Scotland, with the others in northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

All of the least affordable areas for first time home buyers were in London, with Brent, Hackney and Haringey ranking the worst. Houses in Brent cost around 12.5 times the average amount local people earn in a year.

The report also found that the average deposit a first-time buyer was expected to put down had more than doubled since 2007 -- from around £16,400, to £33,960 in May 2016. In London the average deposit for a first-time buyer was £95,693.

Meanwhile house prices themselves have risen by 12 per cent in the past year, to a UK average of £200,000.

But despite the price hike, Halifax report the number of first time buyers as having increased by 10 per ecnt in the first six months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. When compared to the first half of 2009, the figure has more than doubled. Although teh figure is still lower than 2006, before the recession.

Chris Gowland, Mortgages Director at Halifax, said: "Although numbers remain below their previous peaks and many potential first time buyers are facing escalating house prices and deposit sizes, record low mortgage rates continue to make buying seem a more attractive option than renting." He added that the increase in first time buyers was in line with a general improvement in market activity but suggested that the government Help To Buy scheme had probably contributed.

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However other recent reports show how hard it is for people to scrape together the money to buy a house, and suggest it is still not possible for many people. The English Housing Survey said that first time buyers were increasingly relying on friends and family or an inheritance to raise enough cash to buy a home.

First time buyers are also older than in the past, averaging 30 -- or 32 in London -- compared to 29 in 2011. And more first time buyers, around four in five (80 per cent), are now couples. According to an English Housing Survey report, the proportion of single first time buyers halved from 29% in 1994/95 to 14% in 2014/15.