New analysis has revealed that the average advertised rent in Great Britain is now cheaper than a typical new mortgage payment for the first time since June 2025.
According to property portal Rightmove, 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 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 per cent.
The calculations assume a new buyer has a 20 per cent 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 that 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 per cent in February, before rates started rising, to 5.35 per cent 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.
In the East of England, the average asking price is currently £421,237. The average monthly mortgage payment is £1,881, while the average monthly rent paid by tenants is £1,577.
The biggest gap between monthly rent and mortgage payments is in Westminster, London, where the average price of a property is £1,420,160, monthly mortgage payments are approximately £6,343 and monthly rents are £5,053.
There are still some places in the UK where buying is cheaper than renting.
In Midlothian, Scotland, for example, the average property costs £246,978 to buy, monthly mortgage payments are on average £1,103 and rents are £1,494.
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.”