Oldham is top value for homes

OLDHAM is one of the most affordable places to live in the North-West.

Latest figures from the GMB union show that the average price of a home in Oldham, at £101,691, a shade over four times the average full-time salary of £25,406, making it the third cheapest place to live out of 22 areas across the region.

But the national picture is bleak, with workers having to borrow 5.1 times their annual pay packet of £31,885 to secure enough for a property, with prices averaging at £161,883.

The situation is worse still in Trafford, with the £189,340 needed to secure an average home a whopping 5.4 times the £35,027 average pay packet of a full-time worker in the area.

Rochdale is more costly than Oldham, with aspiring homeowners having to borrow 4.6 times their average earnings of £25,783 to secure the average house at £118,774.

But Blackburn and Darwen is a snip, with the average home of £89,803 just 3.6 times a normal salary of £25,016.

Paul McCarthy, the GMB regional secretary, said: “This new analysis shows that house prices in parts of the North-West have yet to fall towards the affordability range as they have done in parts of the region.”