A NEW report has revealed Renfrewshire is one of the most affordable places in Scotland to live...while East Renfrewshire is among the most expensive.

Figures released by Bank of Scotland show that homeowners in Renfrewshire pay an average of 16 per cent of their disposable income towards their mortgage each month.

This is lower than the Scottish average of 20 per cent and the fourth lowest in the country, with only Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and East Dunbartonshire found to be more affordable.

In stark contrast, the figure for East Renfrewshire is 24 per cent of disposable income – the third highest in the country, with only Edinburgh and East Dunbartonshire homeowners having to fork out more.

East Renfrewshire has also suffered the biggest increase in ‘mortgage deterioration’ of any Scottish local authority since last year, at 2.8 per cent.

Tens of thousands of local homeowners were hit by an increase in the Bank of England base mortgage rate at the end of last year.

And experts at the Bank of Scotland have warned that, if rates were to rise over the course of 2018, it would leave the 46 per cent of households who have a mortgage either on a standard variable rate or tracker rate facing increased payments.

On a positive note, mortgage affordability has significantly improved over the past decade.

In Renfrewshire, homeowners were paying an average of 33 per cent of their disposable income on their mortgage in 2007, while the figure for East Renfrewshire was 43 per cent.

Ricky Diggins, director at Bank of Scotland, said: “Despite the base rate towards the end of last year, it was the rise in house prices that had a slight impact on mortgage affordability for homeowners in Scotland.

“However, even with the slight decrease in affordability over the last year, the average amount that homeowners spend on their mortgage payments as a proportion of disposable income is significantly less now when compared to 10 years ago – and Scotland is typically more affordable when compared to the rest of the UK.”