The most expensive plant in the UK to rent rather than pay a mortgage has been revealed to be Glasgow.
It is cheaper to pay a monthly mortgage as a first-time buyer than to rent in half of cities for those who are able to save a 10 percent deposit, according to Rightmove research.
Nowhere is this more apparent in the UK than Scotland's biggest city where renters spend £215 more on rent - spending £2,580 more a year than homeowners. Rightmove says first-time buyers in Glasgow make the biggest savings by getting on the ladder than anywhere else in the country.
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The average monthly rent is £867 in Glasgow compared to £652, the average monthly mortgage payment for a first home - the largest difference found by Rightmove across the UK.
In the UK ranking of cities cheaper to pay a mortgage than rent, Aberdeen follows in third place with a £190 difference, beating Dundee where renters pay £176 more.
Meanwhile, the firm named Aberdeen as Scotland's cheapest city for first time buyers with an average monthly mortgage payment of £528. It ranks as the the third cheapest city to get on the property ladder.
Dundee comes in fourth place for cheapest city to buy, with homeowners paying an average of £555 a month.
The data analysed the average monthly mortgage payment of a typical first-time buyer type property of two bedrooms and fewer and the equivalent monthly rent in cities across Great Britain.
The data assumes first-time buyers are taking out a five-year fixed, 90 percent Loan-to-Value (LTV) mortgage at the best-buy rate of 4.45%, spread over 25 years.
Across Great Britain, a typical first-time buyer home is now a record £226,399 and the best-buy rate on a five-year fixed, 90% LTV mortgage is now 4.45% - up from 2.79% this time last year.
Despite these price increases, the average mortgage payment on a first-time buyer property is now £1,127 per month, only just edging the average asking rent of £1,120 per month.
"For those who are able to save up the deposit, it’s still cheaper to pay off a mortgage as a first-time buyer in many areas than pay the equivalent in monthly rent, despite prices reaching a new record at a national level and mortgage rates rising," notes Rightmove's property expert Tim Bannister.
"It highlights how frenetic the rental market has been for a long time now, with many areas continuing to see record rents and fierce competition between tenants for the properties available.
"It helps to explain why we’re seeing such determination from first-time buyers to continue to get onto the ladder despite the economic headwinds that they face, and why we’re seeing buyers increasingly return to cities while a bigger proportion of renters are looking to move away."
Cities where it's cheaper to pay a mortgage than rent
Cities |
Average asking price for a first-time buyer type property (2 bedrooms and fewer) |
Average monthly mortgage payment (per month) |
Average monthly rental payment (per month) |
Mortgage versus Rent |
Glasgow |
£130,947 |
£652 |
£867 |
-£215 |
Swansea |
£137,855 |
£686 |
£884 |
-£198 |
Aberdeen |
£106,088 |
£528 |
£718 |
-£190 |
Dundee |
£111,415 |
£555 |
£731 |
-£176 |
Newcastle Upon Tyne |
£135,160 |
£673 |
£841 |
-£168 |
Cheapest cities for first time buyers
Cities |
Average asking price for a first-time buyer type property (2 bedrooms and fewer) |
Average monthly mortgage payment (per month) |
Average monthly rental payment (per month) |
Mortgage versus Rent |
Bradford |
£104,643 |
£521 |
£623 |
-£102 |
Carlisle |
£104,784 |
£522 |
£556 |
-£34 |
Aberdeen |
£106,088 |
£528 |
£718 |
-£190 |
Hull |
£106,939 |
£532 |
£595 |
-£63 |
Dundee |
£111,415 |
£555 |
£731 |
-£176 |
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