Where to work in banking when you want to buy a house

If you want to earn a lot of money in banking, work in London. But if you want to earn enough money to buy a house and live comfortably, you're better off looking for a banking job elsewhere in the UK.

So say figures released today by Zoopla, the property website. We looked at Zoopla's figures for average house prices by city and the average income required for first time buyers to buy those houses. We then compared those to average salaries for banking analysts in UK cities where banks are known to have a large presence. The results are shown in the table below.

They suggest that if you want to work in banking and to buy a house, you should be in Glasgow. You should probably not be in London and you definitely shouldn't be in Bournemouth.

Of course, London might be partly redeemed by the fact that salaries aren't the only component of compensation for junior finance professionals in the City. If you work in a front office job you will also get your bonus, which might increase your income by anything from 25% to 100% in the first few years.

When 100% bonuses are factored in, London suddenly rivals Belfast for junior banker affordability (but is still behind Glasgow). If you work in M&A or sales and trading in the City and get a big bonus, you will therefore be fine when it comes to buying a house. However, you don't want to work in banking in London on a salary alone.

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