Getting onto the housing ladder is £2,300 a year cheaper than renting, says Santander
First-time buyers could save £2,300 a year by getting on the property ladder compared to renting, according to research by Santander Mortgages.
The average monthly rent in the UK is currently £995 compared to monthly repayments of £805 for the average first-time buyer household, meaning buyers could save £190 a month, the lender said.
In London, where rental prices are 56 per cent higher than the UK average, first time buyers would see themselves £179 better off per month, according to the research.
In contrast, mortgage repayments for first-time buyers in the east of England only exceed rents by £2.
Overall, rents exceed mortgage repayments in every region across the country, the bank said.
Santander UK’s Miguel Sard, said: “People assume that buying a property will put them under greater financial pressure, but often the reverse is true. With annual savings averaging well over £2,000, this can really mount up over time and of course once the mortgage is paid off you have a valuable asset to show for it."
The research found the average price across the country to be £212,610. This means that a buyer with a 21 per cent deposit – the average deposit size for a UK first-time buyer – would require £44,648 in order to get on to the property ladder.