Walsall fans pay most to move closer to club's ground
Walsall fans would be paying the most out of any club in the region to move near their team's ground, according to new figures.
The Saddlers' WS1 postcode puts the club in 40th place when all 92 Football League clubs are ranked by deposit size, according to a new report released by the Deposit Protection Service.
The average tenancy deposits for those renting near Bescot Stadium is £750, putting the club above its neighbours as well as big hitters in the football world such as Manchester United, Manchester City and Leicester City.
For Wolves fans, a deposit of £592 is needed if you want to rent in the WV1 postcode near to the Molineux, more than rivals West Bromwich Albion, with a £653 average deposit in the B71 area.
The Wolves total puts the club towards the bottom of the table in terms of deposits, coming 75th out of 92.
However, the cheapest club to move near in the West Midlands is Aston Villa, where a deposit of £519 is needed to move near to Villa Park.
Julian Foster, managing director at the DPS, said: "It's fun to see how much the most passionate supporters have to pay in the form of a deposit to live a short walk from every home game, and looking at the football league from a different perspective certainly produces some interesting results."
The results of the report strangely mirror the real life situation at the West Midlands clubs, with Walsall flying-high and chasing promotion, while Aston Villa deal with relegation and Wolves and West Bromwich Albion languish in mid-table.
The release of the 'league table' follows a recent study which found that major cities are becoming 'unaffordable blackspots' for first-time buyers trying to get on the property ladder across England and Wales.
The news follows recent data released by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) that revealed there has been a 64 per cent increase in mortgage borrowing since March last year.
The number of mortgage approvals in March 2016 was 20 per cent higher than a year earlier, with 78,448 mortgages worth £13.4 billion collectively given the go-ahead. Re-mortgaging approvals were up by 25 per cent and approvals for house purchase were up by 14 per cent, the BBA said.
There have also been reports suggesting that the flood of investors into the housing market enabled house sellers to trade up into bigger properties, pushing up house prices higher up the property chain.
The BBA's figures also showed that the amount of cash flowing into Isas from savers has fallen back sharply compared with a year earlier.
