Zoopla.co.uk Top 50 Rent vs Buy Index: December 2011
High rental demand, due to the difficulties would-be buyers face in getting financing, coupled with low mortgage rates has made buying property in Britain more attractive today than it has ever been in comparison to renting. Buying now beats renting in 47 of the 50 largest towns across the country, according to our latest statistics.
| Rank | City | Average Monthly Rent 2-bed flats |
Average Asking Price 2-bed flats |
% Difference renting compared to buying |
Rent or buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milton Keynes | £756 | £133,217 | 36% | BUY |
| 2 | Warrington | £601 | £108,604 | 33% | BUY |
| 3 | Walsall | £507 | £92,031 | 32% | BUY |
| 4 | Coventry | £582 | £105,850 | 32% | BUY |
| 5 | Northampton | £587 | £106,925 | 32% | BUY |
| 6 | York | £866 | £158,127 | 31% | BUY |
| 7 | London | £2,416 | £442,036 | 31% | BUY |
| 8 | Wolverhapmton | £505 | £92,590 | 31% | BUY |
| 9 | Swindon | £597 | £110,574 | 30% | BUY |
| 10 | Birmingham | £706 | £130,937 | 29% | BUY |
| 11 | Preston | £542 | £102,211 | 27% | BUY |
| 12 | Peterborough | £564 | £106,632 | 27% | BUY |
| 13 | Reading | £1,005 | £191,499 | 26% | BUY |
| 14 | Derby | £549 | £105,051 | 25% | BUY |
| 15 | Bradford | £496 | £95,886 | 24% | BUY |
| 16 | Nottingham | £598 | £116,632 | 23% | BUY |
| 17 | Barnsley | £440 | £87,424 | 21% | BUY |
| 18 | Manchester | £690 | £138,230 | 20% | BUY |
| 19 | Rotherham | £480 | £96,324 | 20% | BUY |
| 20 | Leeds | £693 | £139,517 | 19% | BUY |
| 21 | Colchester | £643 | £130,534 | 18% | BUY |
| 22 | Stoke on Trent | £461 | £93,905 | 18% | BUY |
| 23 | Dundee | £524 | £106,674 | 18% | BUY |
| 24 | Glasgow | £549 | £111,884 | 18% | BUY |
| 25 | Leicester | £568 | £116,019 | 17% | BUY |
| 26 | Ipswich | £565 | £115,727 | 17% | BUY |
| 27 | Bolton | £539 | £111,174 | 16% | BUY |
| 28 | Newcastle upon Tyne | £607 | £125,835 | 16% | BUY |
| 29 | Doncaster | £489 | £103,118 | 14% | BUY |
| 30 | Hull | £529 | £112,378 | 13% | BUY |
| 31 | Southampton | £734 | £156,525 | 13% | BUY |
| 32 | Sheffield | £558 | £120,514 | 11% | BUY |
| 33 | Norwich | £616 | £133,244 | 11% | BUY |
| 34 | Bedford | £614 | £134,555 | 9% | BUY |
| 35 | Wigan | £477 | £105,309 | 9% | BUY |
| 36 | Stockport | £619 | £137,313 | 8% | BUY |
| 37 | Brighton | £1,119 | £248,653 | 8% | BUY |
| 38 | Cambridge | £1,060 | £235,765 | 8% | BUY |
| 39 | Lincoln | £552 | £125,915 | 5% | BUY |
| 40 | Middlesborough | £539 | £124,260 | 4% | BUY |
| 41 | Bristol | £762 | £177,348 | 3% | BUY |
| 42 | Cardiff | £645 | £151,651 | 2% | BUY |
| 43 | Huddersfield | £510 | £119,868 | 2% | BUY |
| 44 | Liverpool | £609 | £143,624 | 2% | BUY |
| 45 | Aberdeen | £849 | £201,949 | 1% | BUY |
| 46 | Edinburgh | £706 | £168,351 | 1% | BUY |
| 47 | Oldham | £504 | £120,690 | 0% | BUY |
| 48 | Bournemouth | £756 | £192,456 | -6% | RENT |
| 49 | Plymouth | £618 | £158,693 | -7% | RENT |
| 50 | Swansea | £653 | £172,871 | -9% | RENT |
Zoopla.co.uk Rent vs Buy Index - Key and Methodology
Mortgage payments are calculated assuming a conservative mortgage rate of 5% p.a. to provide an effective comparison to renting.
We use an interest-only mortgage rate in the comparison as the interest on a mortgage is the effective cost of financing living in that home.
We assume a 100% LTV ratio to do a fair and simple comparison of the cost of financing versus the cost of rent.