Still better to buy than rent

14-Nov-2007

Tenants in rented accommodation are paying only slightly more over a 25 year period than their home owning counterparts, a new survey reveals.

As prices of renting and buying grow closer, the most recent figures from Abbey show that it costs only £5,811 more to rent than it does to buy, although in some areas it is more cost effective to rent.

Last year this figure was more than £24,000, taken over a traditional mortgage life.

Tenants in rented accommodation are better off than people who own their homes in Northern Ireland, Wales and the North West, while in Yorkshire, London and the Midlands it costs about the same.

Abbey head of mortgages Nici Audhlam-Gardiner 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."

Meanwhile the Association of Home Information Pack Providers has refuted claims by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that home information packs will prevent first time buyers from getting on the property ladder.

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