BRADFORD is one of the country’s most affordable cities in which to buy a home, according to new research.

The latest Lloyds Bank Affordable Cities Review puts Bradford in the 15 most affordable places in the UK, with homes costing 4.17 times the average earnings. Oxford is the UK’s least affordable city with houses costing 11 times gross average earnings.

The report says the past year saw a deterioration in affordability, driven by rising house prices across the country. The average UK city house price has risen by seven per cent , from £181,667 in 2014, to £195,107 in 2015.

This has resulted in affordability in UK cities worsening in the last 12 months from 5.8 to 6.1 times gross average annual earnings; the second successive annual decline in affordability.

Affordability in UK cities is, on average, now at the same level as in 2009 but is 15 per cent lower than the peak of 7.2 times earnings in 2008 at the height of the last housing market boom.

The overall improvement in affordability across UK cities as a whole over the past seven years has been caused by a combination of an average six per cent house price decline of £12,630 and an 11 per cent or £3,058 increase in the gross average annual earnings in UK cities .

York , with average house prices 6.83 time average earnings, is among the least affordable cities outside southern England.

Andy Hulme, Lloyds Bank mortgages director, said: “House price rises in the past two years have resulted in a deterioration in home affordability in the majority of UK cities, and generally widening the north / south affordability divide as the market has been strongest in the south. ”

The north-south affordability means that 17 of the 20 least affordable cities are in southern England while 19 of the 20 most affordable cities for homebuyers are outside southern England .