Swansea, Plymouth and Bournemouth were the only three locations in the UK where it was found that renting was cheaper than buying according to Zoopla’s results.
The average monthly rent in Swansea stands at £653 while the average cost of a property to buy is £172,871 meaning there is a rental discount of 9.3% annually whereas Milton Keynes was tipped as the best place in the UK to buy a property as opposed to rent as the monthly rent costs on average, £756, while the average asking prices on a home stands at £133,217, which means renting works out 36% more expensive leaving tenants £2,436 worse off a year compared to home owners.
With banks tightening their criteria for lending to would-be first time buyers as well as demanding even larger deposits, getting on the property ladder has never harder which is likely to be causing the discrepancy is the cost of renting versus owning.