Bath is one of the 'least affordable' cities to buy a property

Bath is one of the 'least affordable' cities to buy a property, according to a new report. The Lloyds Bank study found that home affordability in cities is at its worst levels since 2008, with properties typically costing nearly seven times earnings.

The average house price in a UK city has surged by nearly a third over the last five years, with the average home costing £224,926 in 2017.

Over the same period, average annual earnings in a city have seen only a 7% increase, rising to £32,796.

As a result, the average home in a city now costs around 6.9 times the average annual wage - the least affordable house price-to-earnings ratio since 2008, when a city home typically cost 7.2 times annual wages.

The study, which looked at 61 cities across the UK, identified Oxford as the UK's least affordable city, with homes there costing nearly 11 times average local earnings. Bath also featured in the top 10 'least affordable' with homes costing more than 9 times the average salary

Least affordable cities (with the average house price-to-earnings ratio):

• Oxford, South East, 10.7

• London, South East, 10.5

• Winchester, South East, 10.5

• Cambridge, East Anglia, 10.3

• Chichester, South East, 10

• Brighton and Hove, South East, 9.6

• Bath, South West, 9.3

• Southampton, South East, 9.2

• Salisbury, South West, 9.2

• St Albans, South East, 8.7

Most affordable cities:

• Stirling, Scotland, 3.7

• Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 3.8

• Bradford, Yorkshire and Humberside, 4.4

• Belfast, Northern Ireland, 4.6

• Hereford, West Midlands, 4.7

• Lisburn, Northern Ireland, 4.8

• Sunderland, North, 4.9

• Durham, North, 5

• Glasgow, Scotland, 5.2

• Swansea, Wales, 5.2