Cities where a mortgage is cheaper than renting

SCOTTISH cities appear to be bucking a British trend that sees renting work out cheaper than buying.

Analysis from a property website suggests homes in more than half of the country’s major urban areas are less expensive to lease than purchase.

However, the Zoopla study showed Glasgow and Dundee top the list of places were monthly mortgage payments were cheaper than renting.

The website researched the cost of renting a home with two bedrooms, compared with servicing a mortgage, in Britain’s 50 biggest urban areas.

It found renting is cheaper than buying in 54 per cent of locations. In London, renting was found to be particularly cost effective, as the typical property asking price is £599,950, the research found.

Average monthly rent in the UK capital was found to be £1,861, while a mortgage repayment could set a home owner back by £3,001 a month.

Yet in Glasgow, where a typical house price was said to be £95,000, the average rent was found to be £649 compared to a mortgage payment of £475.

And in Dundee, the average home asking price was calculated at £82,000 with repayments at £410 each month. Average rental payments were found to be £549.

Across Britain’s 50 biggest cities, the average monthly rent on a two bedroom home is £690 – £47 less per month than those making mortgage repayments of £737, Zoopla found.

A Zoopla spokesman said: ‘These figures are encouraging for those who are renting and perhaps looking to save as much as they possibly can to get on the property ladder.’

‘Encouraging for those saving’