Buying still cheaper option
The cost of buying a property is still cheaper compared to renting, according to research by Abbey.
It costs an average £5,811 less to buy than rent over a 25-year period, with the size of the gap differing from region to region across the UK.
The survey compared the average cost for a person buying against that of a person renting over a 25-year period, finding that the average cost of renting was £443,736 compared to £437,925 to buy.
This represents a differential of just 1.3 per cent.
Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, head of mortgages at Abbey said: "While on a month-to-month basis in some areas it is cheaper to rent rather than buy, at the end of the 25 years a homeowner actually has a house whereas a renter has nothing.
"We think it is the role of mortgage lenders to come up with new initiatives so that more people can achieve their dreams of owning a home."
Unsurprisingly, Greater London was the most expensive, costing £728,410 to buy and £717,952 to rent.
In 2006, the difference between buying and selling was over £24,000, representing a drop of 76 per cent in one year.
