The most affordable place to buy a house in Greater Manchester - with average prices of £167,000

Wigan is the most affordable borough of Greater Manchester and Stockport is the least, according to a new study.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The most affordable boroughs of Greater Manchester have been revealed, with Wigan coming out on top. The study conducted by finance and property experts Buzz Capital has ranked all 10 boroughs from most to least affordable by comparing the average house price with average salary in each borough.

House prices are declining in a similar way they did during the 2008 financial crisis and experts are predicting further decline throughout the year. It looks like Mancunians are cottoning on as searches relating to house buying have increased 171% since Christmas Eve alone, according to Google Trends.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Anyone thinking of getting on the property ladder this year, may want to consider Wigan – the borough where house prices are most affordable in comparison to salary. There, the average house price is the lowest of all Greater Manchester boroughs at £167,730 and average salary is £33,900. This means that the average salary is 20.2% of the average house price.

Stockport is the least affordable Greater Manchester borough. There, the average house price is considerably higher at £279,236 and the average salary is £25,000, meaning it accounts for only 9% of the average house price.

Trafford has the highest average house price by far at £345,079 and the second highest average salary at £39,200, therefore salary accounts for just 11.4% of the average house price, making it the second least affordable borough by this methodology. This is not surprising considering Trafford includes some of the most affluent areas of Manchester, such as Bowden, Hale and Altrincham.

What is surprising, however, is that central Manchester works out as the second most affordable area, according to these calculations. It has the highest average salary at £40,200, but average house price is much lower than Trafford at £255,485, which means salary accounts for 15.7% of average house price. Manchester borough covers the city centre, and some of the region’s more affluent neighbourhoods like Chorlton and Didsbury, but it does also include more deprived areas like Harpurhey, Clayton and Crumpsall.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Aside from Wigan, the other lowest house prices in Greater Manchester over the last 12 months were seen in Rochdale and Oldham, where house prices were £190,703 and £190,740 respectively. The borough with the lowest average salary is Tameside at £24,800.

Here are all the Greater Manchester boroughs ranked from most to least affordable:

Wigan

Average house price: £167,730

Average salary: £33,900

Salary as proportion of house price: 20.2%

City of Manchester

Average house price: £255,485

Average salary: £40,200

Salary as proportion of house price: 15.7%

Bolton

Average house price: £201,844

Average salary: £31,500

Salary as proportion of house price: 15.6%

Oldham

Average house price: £190,740

Average salary: £28,500

Salary as proportion of house price: 14.9%

Bury

Average house price: £222,657

Average salary: £32,600

Salary as proportion of house price: 14.6%

Rochdale

Average house price: £190,703

Average salary: £27,800

Salary as proportion of house price: 14.6%

Salford

Average house price: £249,507

Average salary: £32,200

Salary as proportion of house price: 12.9%

Tameside

Average house price: £204,356

Average salary: £24,800

Salary as proportion of house price: £12.1

Trafford

Average house price: £345,079

Average salary: £39,200

Salary as proportion of house price: 11.4%

Stockport

Average house price: £279,236

Average salary: £25,000

Salary as proportion of house price: 9%