Renting cheaper than a mortgage for first time since June 2025

• The cost of renting a typical home in Great Britain is cheaper than the average monthly mortgage payment for the first time since June 2025 due to higher average mortgage rates
• The average advertised monthly rent across Great Britain is now £1,547. This compares to an average new monthly mortgage payment of £1,670 – meaning on average renters pay £123 less:
  • The average mortgage payment uses the average asking price for a home of £373,971, the average two-year fixed rate of 5.35% in April, and assumes a 20% deposit and mortgage term of 30 years
• Scotland and the North East, where prices are lowest, are the only parts of Great Britain where a typical new mortgage is cheaper than renting.
  • London and the South East, where prices are highest, have the largest gap between average mortgage and rental payments
• Looking more locally, renting is cheaper than a mortgage in more than two-thirds of local authorities. This has also doubled from a third in February when mortgage rates were lower

 

New analysis from Rightmove, the UK’s largest property platform, shows that the average advertised rent in Great Britain is now cheaper than a typical new mortgage payment for the first time since June 2025.

The average advertised monthly rent across Great Britain is now £1,547. This is £123 lower than the average new monthly mortgage payment of £1,670.

To calculate the average mortgage payment, Rightmove has used the current average asking price for a home of £373,971 and the average two-year fixed rate so far in April of 5.35%. The calculations assume a new buyer has a 20% deposit and has chosen to spread the cost of the mortgage over 30 years.

Building a larger deposit, borrowing less, and spreading the mortgage payment over a longer term are all factors which can lower monthly mortgage payments.

Scotland and the North East, where asking prices are lowest, are the only parts of Great Britain where a typical new mortgage is still cheaper than renting despite higher average mortgage rates.

London and the South East, where house prices are highest, have the largest gap between average mortgage and rental payments.

The average two-year fixed mortgage rate has increased from 4.24% in February, before rates started rising, to 5.35% in April.

Looking at the data more locally, renting is cheaper than a mortgage in more than two-thirds of local authorities which has more than doubled in April from February.

Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert says: “Mortgage payments have risen quite sharply in a short space of time for new buyers. It will be interesting to see whether more would‑be buyers turn to renting temporarily while rates remain high, particularly when monthly costs can exceed average rents and the timing of rate cuts is still unclear.”

Regional view

Region	Average asking price	Average mortgage payment	Average monthly rent	Difference
East Midlands	£291,392	£1,301	£1,132	-£169
East of England	£421,237	£1,881	£1,577	-£304
London	£680,147	£3,038	£2,676	-£362
North East	£198,416	£886	£931	£45
North West	£271,750	£1,214	£1,207	-£7
Scotland	£208,122	£930	£1,121	£191
South East	£482,573	£2,155	£1,792	-£363
South West	£387,771	£1,732	£1,433	-£299
Great Britain	£373,971	£1,670	£1,547	£123
Wales	£274,007	£1,224	£1,087	-£137
West Midlands	£299,150	£1,336	£1,192	-£144
Yorkshire and The Humber	£258,812	£1,156	£1,056	-£100

 

Local view

 

Areas with the biggest gap between mortgage payments and rents

Region	Average asking price	Average mortgage payment	Average monthly rent	Difference between rent and mortgage payment
Westminster	£1,420,160	£6,343	£5,053	-£1,290
Kensington and Chelsea	£1,534,365	£6,853	£5,604	-£1,249
Elmbridge	£902,978	£4,033	£3,064	-£969
St Albans	£730,934	£3,265	£2,384	-£881
Richmond upon Thames	£901,490	£4,026	£3,173	-£853
Mole Valley	£673,423	£3,008	£2,318	-£690
Three Rivers	£685,898	£3,063	£2,379	-£684
South Hams	£462,653	£2,066	£1,414	-£652
Chichester	£526,433	£2,351	£1,733	-£618
Waverley	£659,733	£2,947	£2,393	-£554

 

 

Areas where buying is still cheaper than renting

Region	Average asking price	Average mortgage payment	Average monthly rent	Difference between rent and mortgage payment
Midlothian	£246,978	£1,103	£1,494	+£391
Sefton	£247,433	£1,105	£1,473	+£368
Glasgow City	£174,606	£780	£1,105	+£325
Aberdeen City	£153,435	£685	£991	+£306
Barking and Dagenham	£365,379	£1,632	£1,925	+£293
Newham	£437,442	£1,954	£2,222	+£268
South Lanarkshire	£185,922	£830	£1,094	+£264
West Dunbartonshire	£142,467	£636	£865	+£229
Salford	£245,478	£1,096	£1,323	+£227
Renfrewshire	£163,819	£732	£954	+£222

ENDS

About Rightmove

• Rightmove has the UK’s largest selection of properties for sale and to rent, adds more listings than anyone else
• Latest view from Comscore is over 80% of all time spent on property portals is on Rightmove, and latest view from SimilarWeb is over 70% of time spent on property portals in the UK is on Rightmove (two datasets used across the industry to track time spent on portals)
• Rightmove’s vision is to give everyone the belief that they can make their move by giving people the best place to turn and return to for access to tools and expertise to make it happen
• Users can search Rightmove for residential resale, new homes, rentals, built for rent, commercial property and overseas properties. Rightmove also provide an extensive range of tools and information assisting their home moving journey, including but not limited to: local sold prices, online property valuation, agent visit requests, moving guides, mortgage in principle certification, renovation calculator, extension explorer, home services for renters like utilities, media and insurance, school information, moving guides and sustainability information
• Partners (Rightmove’s customers) include the following key groups: estate agents, letting agents, new homes developers, rental operators, commercial property operators, overseas property agents, financial services operators and home services providers for insurance, utilities and media
• Using the UK’s largest housing datasets, we issue a number of regular reports to track housing market indicators: our monthly House Price Index (established 2002), quarterly Rental Trends Tracker (established 2015), weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker (established 2023) and quarterly Commercial Insights Tracker (established 2024). Historical data is available on request
• Founded in 2000, Rightmove listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is a member of the FTSE 100 index