The best locations to buy property outside London

People hoping to get onto the property ladder or take the next step on it might want to consider some of these key cities for the fastest, easiest route to homeownership.

Compare the Market has come up with a list of the top 20 places in the UK outside the capital to buy a property in today’s climate, with the majority of the population priced out of London’s sky-high housing market where homes typically fetch in the region of £639,629, according to the data.

The research looked at factors that would affect how easy and quick it would be to purchase a property, taking into account the average house price, the typical number of days houses spend on the market, average years owned by the current owner, the number of properties per 100,000 people and number of estate agencies per capita.

Coming out on top was Canterbury in Kent, where the average home costs around half of that in London at £311,154, and properties in the area get snapped up within as little as 28 days of being listed (not taking into account processing time after an offer has been accepted). Owners tend to keep their houses for around 7.1 years, and while there are only 261.7 properties per 100,000 people, it has more estate agencies than most other places at 219.

Bristol and Southampton were next on the list, while Manchester came in fourth place with its very affordable house prices averaging £185,583, and 784.6 properties per 100,000 people meaning there’s plenty of housing stock. Manchester is also one of the most promising areas in terms of house price growth, meaning that although this is making the market more competitive, buyers stand to make strong gains from investing in property there now.

Here’s a full rundown of the list from Compare the Market: