Rent vs buy calculator, UK 2026
Updated 6 October 2026 · Sources
Should you rent or buy? Put in a price, a rent and how long you'd stay. We compare what each path leaves you with, year by year, using Oct 2026 figures for every UK nation.
Fills in the UK House Price Index price and ONS Price Index of Private Rents rent for the UK. Tax: SDLT (England).
ONS average for the UK: £273,000 (Jul 2026).
£27,300 · Assumption 10% to start
Average 6.00% five-year and 5.98% two-year fix, Moneyfacts average mortgage rates
ONS average for the UK: £1,400 (Aug 2026). Thinking of letting your own place instead? Find out what your home would rent for.
Buying costs
RICS Level 2 average, HomeOwners Alliance house survey costs
Moneyfacts average, Feb 2025 (Moneyfacts average mortgage product fee). On the best deals this summer £999 was the most common fee and the average was below £900 for first-time buyers and movers (Which? analysis of mortgage fees).
Higher rates: GOV.UK SDLT higher rates for additional properties, Revenue Scotland Additional Dwelling Supplement, Welsh Revenue Authority LTT rates.
+2% on every SDLT band (GOV.UK SDLT higher rates for additional properties).
Mortgage
Payment recalculated from the balance when the fix ends. Starts equal to the fixed rate. Assumption
Assumption
Owning
Assumption Inside the range from BCIS housing maintenance spending (1.13%) to Checkatrade home upkeep costs (2.8%).
Average buildings-only premium, ABI average home insurance premiums
Leasehold flats: enter your own.
Leasehold flats: enter your own.
Selling at the end
Renting
Average contents-only premium is £117 (ABI average home insurance premiums). Leave at 0 if you'd insure contents either way.
Refundable, so it is cash tied up, not a cost. Capped at 5 weeks where rent is under £50,000 a year (GOV.UK Tenant Fees Act deposit cap).
Growth and return
Latest UK annual rise 3.8%, ONS Private rent and house prices bulletin. Assumption held every year.
Latest UK annual rise 1.4%, ONS Private rent and house prices bulletin. Assumption held every year.
Growth rates: UK averages. London prices fell 3.3% in the year to Jul 2026 (UK House Price Index); change the rate to test your own view.
Nominal, after fees, assumed held in an ISA so no tax (GOV.UK Individual Savings Accounts). Assumption 5% to start.
- Monthly mortgage payment£1,583
- SDLT on £273,000£0
- Cash needed to buy£30,458
- Break-even house price growth0.45% a year
Is it better to rent or buy in the UK?
At October 2026 UK averages (£273,000 home, £1,400 rent, 6.00% five-year fix, 10% deposit), buying overtakes renting after 6 years. Over a 10-year stay, buying leaves you £25,265 better off. Prices and rents: ONS Private rent and house prices bulletin. Mortgage rate: Moneyfacts average mortgage rates.
Assumes a first-time buyer in England, 5% investment return (nominal, held in an ISA: GOV.UK Individual Savings Accounts), 1.5% maintenance a year, and today's rent and price growth held steady. Your own numbers will differ: change them above.
Your result over time
Renting vs buying, year by year
Each line is what you would walk away with at that year-end: for a buyer, the home's value less the mortgage and selling costs, plus anything saved; for a renter, the cash a buyer would have spent upfront, invested, plus any monthly saving.
The blue line is whichever path is ahead at the end of your stay. The ember dot is the year buying first comes out ahead. Download the CSV to open the scenario in Excel or Google Sheets.
Net wealth if you sold or stopped at each year-end: home equity after selling costs plus savings, against the renter's savings and returned deposit.
Year-by-year table
| Year | Home value | Mortgage left | Buyer net wealth | Renter net wealth | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £276,822 | £241,326 | £30,636 | £38,380 | Renting |
| 2 | £280,698 | £236,683 | £39,099 | £46,092 | Renting |
| 3 | £284,627 | £231,753 | £47,903 | £53,561 | Renting |
| 4 | £288,612 | £226,520 | £57,065 | £60,748 | Renting |
| 5 | £292,653 | £220,963 | £66,605 | £67,613 | Renting |
| 6 | £296,750 | £215,064 | £76,543 | £74,113 | Buying |
| 7 | £300,904 | £208,801 | £86,902 | £80,202 | Buying |
| 8 | £305,117 | £202,151 | £97,704 | £85,828 | Buying |
| 9 | £309,389 | £195,092 | £108,974 | £90,938 | Buying |
| 10 | £313,720 | £187,597 | £120,813 | £95,548 | Buying |
What would have to be true
Which numbers move the answer
Break-even depends on four things nobody knows in advance: mortgage rates, house prices, rents and investment returns. Here is how far one point either way moves it.
The break-even house price growth is the yearly rise that makes the two paths finish level over your stay. If you think prices will beat it, buying wins on these numbers. For context, UK prices rose 1.4% in the year to Jul 2026 (ONS Private rent and house prices bulletin).
Is it cheaper to rent or buy monthly?
The monthly bill, side by side
Mortgage payment plus the costs of owning, against rent today. Part of each mortgage payment repays the loan, so it is not all spent.
Maintenance is an Assumption of 1.5% of the home's value a year, inside the range from BCIS housing maintenance spending to Checkatrade home upkeep costs. Buildings insurance is the average buildings-only premium from ABI average home insurance premiums.
- Mortgage payment£1,583
- Maintenance£341
- Buildings insurance£26
- Service charge and ground rent£0
- Rent (plus contents cover, if entered)£1,400
The market now · Oct 2026
Is now a good time to buy?
No one can time the market. These are the figures the calculator starts from, each with its source.
Consumer price inflation was 3.1% in the year to Aug 2026 (ONS consumer price inflation). The calculator holds today's rent and price growth steady for every future year; change them in Advanced if you expect something different.
Stamp duty, LBTT and LTT
Upfront tax by nation
What you would pay at your price in each part of the UK, as a first-time buyer, moving home, or buying an additional property. It updates as you change the price above.
England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax, Scotland charges LBTT and Wales charges LTT. For every case, including mixed-use and leases, use our stamp duty calculator.
England and NI
SDLT
Scotland
LBTT
Wales
LTT
Rates: GOV.UK Stamp Duty Land Tax rates, GOV.UK SDLT higher rates for additional properties, Revenue Scotland LBTT rates, Revenue Scotland Additional Dwelling Supplement, Welsh Revenue Authority LTT rates. Non-UK resident buyers in England and Northern Ireland pay 2% more on every band.
Rent vs buy by region
How many years of rent buys a home?
The average house price divided by a year's average rent. The higher the number, the more years of rent it takes to match the price, and the harder buying is to justify on the numbers alone.
Price-to-annual-rent ratio. Prices: Jul 2026 (Northern Ireland Q2 2026); rents: Aug 2026 (Northern Ireland Jun 2026).
| Area | Average price | Rent a month | Years of rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | £273,000 | £1,400 | 16.3 |
| England | £293,000 | £1,459 | 16.7 |
| Wales | £215,000 | £846 | 21.2 |
| Scotland | £196,000 | £1,013 | 16.1 |
| Northern Ireland | £202,000 | £874 | 19.3 |
| North East | £167,000 | £788 | 17.7 |
| North West | £221,000 | £969 | 19.0 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £209,000 | £865 | 20.1 |
| East Midlands | £242,000 | £922 | 21.9 |
| West Midlands | £251,000 | £982 | 21.3 |
| East of England | £338,000 | £1,289 | 21.9 |
| London | £550,000 | £2,332 | 19.7 |
| South East | £381,000 | £1,426 | 22.3 |
| South West | £302,000 | £1,245 | 20.2 |
Prices from the UK House Price Index, rounded to the nearest £1,000; rents from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents. Pick any of these areas in the calculator to load its figures.
Beyond the money
Should I rent or buy? Not just maths
The calculator answers the money question. These are the trade-offs it cannot price.
Renting
Buying
How the calculator works
Five lines, no black box
All rates are nominal. Investments are assumed to sit in an ISA, so no tax (GOV.UK Individual Savings Accounts); capital gains tax does not apply to a main home. Read the full rent vs buy methodology, with formulas and every assumption.
- The buyer pays the deposit, purchase tax, legal fees, survey and arrangement fee. The renter keeps that cash and invests it, less a refundable tenancy deposit.
- Each month, whoever has the cheaper housing invests the difference at the same return. Both sides, not just the renter.
- The mortgage payment is fixed for the fix, then recalculated from the balance at your follow-on rate.
- The home grows at your house price growth; rent grows at your rent growth.
- At each year-end we compare the buyer's equity after selling costs plus savings with the renter's savings.
Questions
Rent or buy: your questions
For landlords and letting agents
Letting your home instead of selling?
If you are moving, letting your current home is an alternative to selling it. You keep the property and any growth in its value, but you take on a landlord's duties, including the new tenancy rules in England. Our sister site lettings.quest covers the tools agents and landlords use, from AI assistants to a property valuation tool agents can add to their own website.
Sources
Where every number comes from
Primary sources first. Secondary sources are labelled. Assumptions are marked and never carry a source. Figures last reviewed 6 October 2026.
- ABI-HOMEHome insurers pay out £846 million to support households · Association of British Insurers
- BCIS-MAINTEconomic Significance of Maintenance Report 2025 · BCIS
- BOE-LTICP6/26 – High loan to income lending · Bank of England (Prudential Regulation Authority)
- BOE-MPC-DATESUpcoming MPC dates · Bank of England
- BOE-MPSBank Rate maintained at 3.75% – September 2026 Monetary Policy Summary and Minutes · Bank of England
- CHECKATRADE-MAINTAverage property upkeep costs · Checkatrade · survey
- GOV-ISAIndividual Savings Accounts (ISAs): overview · HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK)
- GOV-RRA-TRenters' Rights Act: an overview for tenants · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)
- GOV-SDLTStamp Duty Land Tax: residential property rates · HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK)
- GOV-SDLT-HRADStamp Duty Land Tax: buying an additional residential property · HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK)
- GOV-TFATenant Fees Act 2019: guidance for tenants · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)
- HOA-AGENTHow much should I pay the estate agent? · HomeOwners Alliance · industry estimate
- HOA-CONVHow much do conveyancing fees cost? · HomeOwners Alliance (Reallymoving data) · industry estimate
- HOA-SURVEYHow much does a house survey cost? · HomeOwners Alliance (Reallymoving data) · industry estimate
- LEG-RRA-C2The Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026 · legislation.gov.uk
- MF-FEESMortgage product fees on the rise while cashback, no fee and legal fee options dwindle – Moneyfacts · Moneyfacts, reported by Mortgage Solutions · press report
- MF-RATESAverage five-year fixed hits 6%: Moneyfacts · Moneyfacts, reported by Mortgage Strategy · press report
- ONS-CPIConsumer price inflation, UK: August 2026 · Office for National Statistics
- ONS-PIPRPrice Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics · Office for National Statistics
- ONS-PRHPPrivate rent and house prices, UK: September 2026 · Office for National Statistics
- ONS-UKHPIUK House Price Index: monthly price statistics · HM Land Registry and ONS
- RS-ADSAdditional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) · Revenue Scotland
- RS-LBTTLand and Buildings Transaction Tax: residential property · Revenue Scotland
- WHICH-FEES6 things to know about mortgage fees · Which? · press report
- WRA-LTTLand Transaction Tax rates and bands · Welsh Government (GOV.WALES)