The UK property market has been in a well publicised slump over the past year and nowhere is this more emphatically emphasised than in recent figures released by the Abbey on the financial difference between buying a house and renting.

The report looks at the figures over a 25 year payment period.  6 months ago buying was £5,800 cheaper than renting over that timeframe but now the saving has grown to £10,500 on average.

Abbey estimates that people who buy their own home will pay out a total of £426,303 on mortgage repayments and maintenance over 25 years, compared with the £436,789 that those who rent a similar home.

North South divide

Interestingly there are also marked differences in the potential savings buyers could make over renters depending on where one lives in the UK.  The biggest winners in the report were those living in the East of Scotland who would save a whopping £90,000 over 25 years.  In England the biggest winners were those in the South-East who would save approximately £60,000 over 25 years.

The time to buy?

There has been much debate recently over whether buying in a slump is a good idea and when exactly is the best time to cash in.  According to one survey by the Building Societies Association some 27% of Brits regard now as the best time to buy.  The respected Motley Fool waded into the debate by suggesting now is an ideal time to buy.

How MutualPoints can help

We have a few mortgage lenders on MutualPoints so you can earn some decent cashback for taking out a mortgage through us. Abbey were mentioned earlier and they pay out 2,250 points for a successful application.

Get a FreeQuote

On a related note we’ve recently launched a new finance website called FreeQuotes, which lets you compare the market to find the best deal on a range of financial products.  On the site you can compare mortgages on a range of fixed, variable, self certified and buy-to-let mortgages.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 10:33 am and is filed under General, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.