The research revealed the most and least affordable areas for first-time buyers, with locations in Scotland featuring in both the most and least affordable lists.

Edinburgh was listed as the least affordable place to live in Scotland while East Ayrshire was on the other end of the spectrum, with the average first-time buyer house prices at 2.3 times typical earnings.

Nationwide also revealed that Kensington and Chelsea in London are the least affordable locations in Britain.

The building society measured the typical first-time buyer house price to earnings ratios in local areas across Britain, using Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. The report found that in Kensington and Chelsea, the typical house price is 16.8 times earnings.

Andrew Harvey, senior economist at Nationwide, said: “In Wales and Scotland, the respective capital cities see strong demand for housing and have the highest house price to earnings ratios.”

Looking at the areas that have seen the biggest improvements in affordability between 2015 and 2020, Mr Harvey said Aberdeen had seen the greatest improvement in Scotland.

He said: “The London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has seen the biggest improvement in affordability over the period, with the average first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio falling from 15.6 to 11.5.

“This was driven by a combination of lower prices – 12% lower than five years ago, and higher earnings – up 17% compared with 2015.

“In Scotland, Aberdeen has seen the greatest improvement in affordability, with average first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio declining from 4.7 to 3.2 in the last five years.”

He added: “This is predominantly due to the 28% fall in average prices over the period, though incomes have also risen by 7%.

“In the south-west of England, the district of Torridge in north Devon has seen its house price to earnings ratio improve from 6.2 to 5.3. This appears to be due to strong growth in earnings over the period, which were 32% higher compared with 2015.

“Affordability gains in other regions have been more modest. Overall, 25% of local authorities in Great Britain have seen an improvement in affordability compared with 2015.”