The affordable cities renters in London escape to in order to buy their first home and you could save up to £23k on a deposit

THE most popular cities for first-time buyers to escape to from London have been revealed - and you could save thousands of pounds on a deposit by moving there.

Hamptons International estate agent analysed the latest migration figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to find out where first-time buyers were ditching London for.

The Sun then worked out how much you could save on a 5 per cent deposit - the minimum you need to take out a mortgage - based on average house prices from property portal Zoopla.

And it turns out you can save more than £23,000 on your deposit by moving to one of these cities compared to the average £31,593 needed for a 5 per cent deposit in London.

Of course, you'd have to opt for a longer commute or move jobs though.

First-time buyers who move to Liverpool will save the most on their deposit - a huge £23,034 compared to London.

In Liverpool, average deposits are £8,559 in comparison.

Here, 8 per cent of all first-time buyers in the northern city moved away from rented properties in the capital.

Oxford was the most popular city for Londoners though, where up to 22 per cent of first-time buyers in the area went from the capital last year.

And it's no wonder when it turns out that you can save £6,473 on a deposit, with average deposits at £25,120.

The next most popular destination was Cambridge, with 22 per cent of new property owners moving from London, where the minimum deposit costs £21,936 on average - a £9,657 saving.

Out of the 15 most popular cities, Newcastle was the furthest away from the capital where 7 per cent of first-time buyers were renters from London.

Here, they could save £21,513 on a 5 per cent deposit, which will set you back £10,080 on average.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said: "As London has become increasingly unaffordable, more people are choosing to up sticks and move to other cities in England.

"The cities closest to the capital such as Oxford and Cambridge have the highest proportion of people moving in from London... but given Oxford and Cambridge are expensive cities too, people are having to look even further away to buy or rent a home."

As part of our My First Home first-time buyer series, we spoke to Theo Fashesin who moved 200miles away from her family in London to Manchester in order to buy a house.

Ethan Bragginton and his girlfriend Aimee also got onto the property ladder by 19 but they had to leave London behind.

And two pals managed to stay in the capital city by clubbing together to buy £425,000 flat in Whitechapel through the shared-ownership scheme.

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