Glasgow is the best city in the UK for first-time buyers, according to Aldermore.

Scotland’s second city came top of the specialist bank’s first First-Time Buyer Appeal Index, which ranked 50 British cities across ten property and lifestyle metrics, such as average FTB selling price, FTBs as a share of local sales, average full-time pay and even restaurants and pubs per 10,000 people.

Glasgow scored 78 out of 100 across these measures.

Scottish cities did well in the poll, taking up four of the top five spots. Dundee (with a score of 69) came second, followed by Aberdeen (65), Liverpool (also 65) was fourth followed by Edinburgh (64).

On Glasgow, the report says: “Opportunities to move up the property ladder are promising, with an average first-time buyer selling price of £141,644 and an annual house price increase of 6.5%. FTBs are successfully getting their foot on the property ladder, making up 64% of sales in the city.

But added that the city’s lifestyle scores “fared less well.”

It says: “With over a quarter, or 28%, of the population aged between 25 and 35, the city offers attractive job prospects for younger buyers, with graduates making up 52% of the workforce, taking home an average of £32,604 in full-time pay. However, longer commute times –20 minutes on average – and lower life satisfaction constrained Glasgow’s appeal from a FTB perspective.”

By contrast, no southern city made the top ten of the index “largely due to a lack of affordable options for FTBs”.

The study says: “This saw the south overrepresented in the bottom of the Index, even though lifestyle and wellbeing scores for these cities were relatively high when compared to the wider Index.”

The highest-ranking cities in the south are Portsmouth (13th with a score of 57), Southampton (19th with a score of 53), Norwich (22nd with a score of 50), Cambridge (25 with a score also of 50) and Bristol (26 with a score also of 50).

London came 40th with a score of 42, while the lowest ranking cities of all were Basildon (48th with a score of 34) Chemesford (49th with a score of 31) and Maidstone (50th with a score of 25).

Aldermore head of mortgage distribution Jon Cooper says: “While some of the cities lower on our Index might have a lot to offer in terms of lifestyle, for many younger buyers in these areas, higher prices might make owning your own home feel unattainable.

“The past two years have brought to the fore the reality that for many people, finances are not always straightforward. Having gaps in employment, less than perfect credit or an inconsistent income shouldn’t penalise borrowers or rule them out of owning their own home.”

Aldermore’s First Time Buyer Appeal Index was designed by data firm Opinium and uses a series of secondary data sources that includes the Office for National Statistics, Census, NOMIS and other official housing statistics.