The most expensive and cheapest areas to buy a first home in Scotland have been named in a brand new study.

Scotland's housing market is as hot as ever as demand soars with the eye-watering prices to match.

First-time buyers are facing an ultra-competitive market and paying wild sums to score the keys to their dream home.

That said, prices do vary and a full list of the most affordable places for first-time buyers has been compiled by Nationwide Building Society.

In a UK-wide ranking of least affordable local authorities, Edinburgh came in at number 10. Meanwhile, East Ayrshire was found to be the most affordable place to get on the property ladder across the UK.

The ranking relied on data from the Office of National Statistics, the Land Registry and the UK House Price Index from June 2021.

Looking west along North Berwick beach, East Lothian, Scotland, UK.
Scots are paying a premium to live in East Lothian

The average house price in Scotland increased to £183,000 in 2021 - a jump of 11.4 percent to the year before, according to the newly updated UK House Price Index.

Kensington and Chelsea in London is the most expensive place in the UK as prices are 14.7 times average earnings.

In Edinburgh, first-time buyers are paying £240,504 on average - almost six times their earnings.

Of course, affordability varies as some areas in Scotland won't demand quite as large a dent in your savings.

Nationwide found 16 percent of local authorities have become more affordable since 2016.

East Ayrshire was revealed to be the UK's most affordable local authority where property prices for first-time buyers are just 2.4 times average earnings.

Aberdeen has seen the greatest improvement in affordability due to a 22 percent fall in prices from 2016 to 2021.

The ranking listed areas by a measurement dubbed the first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio (HPER).

Read on for the full list of affordable areas for first-time buyers in Scotland.

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Full list of cheapest and expensive places to buy first house in Scotland

Local authorities listed with average price for first-time buyers with data from Nationwide Building Society

  1. City of Edinburgh- £240,504

  2. East Lothian - £199,669

  3. Midlothian- £174,638

  4. Perth and Kinross- £156,469

  5. Scottish Borders- £137,843

  6. Orkney Islands- £146,454

  7. Shetland Islands- £162,618

  8. West Lothian- £146,817

  9. Highland- £146,974

  10. Argyll and Bute- £121,739

  11. Aberdeenshire- £147,334

  12. East Dunbartonshire - £172,950

  13. Stirling - £161,070

  14. City of Glasgow - £138,294

  15. Dumfries and Galloway - £121,441

  16. Moray - £135,316

  17. Dundee City - £117,315

  18. East Renfrewshire - £184,558

  19. Angus - £122,437

  20. Falkirk - £117,048

  21. Aberdeen City - £120,859

  22. Fife- £119,912

  23. South Ayrshire - £114,936

  24. Clackmannanshire - £111,295

  25. Renfrewshire - £114,246

  26. South Lanarkshire - £113,223

  27. Eilean Siar - £110,530

  28. North Lanarkshire - £100,800

  29. West Dunbartonshire - £106,152

  30. Inverclyde - £92,517

  31. North Ayrshire - £91,096

  32. East Ayrshire - £83,255