Newly released figures from the Halifax show that the average North Easterner spends £520 a month renting a house compared to £459 owning one – a difference of 12%
This is the fourth largest gap in the UK – with only Scotland, the South West and London recording bigger differences.
This time last year the difference was recorded as only £8 a month, a difference of just 2%
Across the UK, first-time buyers’ advantage over renters has weakened over the past 12 months. In the summer of 2014, renters were on average paying £1018 a year more than buyers. The figure is now £670.
Research from the Guardian has also shown the North East to be the most affordable place in the UK to live.
Londoners now on average spend 12.2 times their income on property, compared to just 6.1 times in the North East.
Ajay Jagota of North East sales and lettings firm KIS believes the figures don’t tell the whole story: “The North East is historically the most inexpensive place to buy a house in the UK – and this research shows it to be the most affordable too. Because of this, buying has always been comparatively cost-effective compared to renting. When you add to that recent developments like reductions in Stamp Tax, low mortgage rates and the government’s Help to Buy scheme lowering the cost of deposits, it’s really no surprise at all to see the cost of buying a property falling.
These figures don’t take away from the fact that the North East is undoubtedly the most cost-effective place to both buy and rent in the UK. Halifax’s research shows that North East buying costs are 32% below the national average, and renting costs 28% lower.There’s no reason at all to be put off renting. KIS research has shown that North East rents have remained the same for almost 18 months. House prices meanwhile have risen by over 5% in the last two months. Then of course there’s the unexpected costs of home ownership these figures don’t include – broken down boilers, insurance, you name it.
When charities like Shelter talk about 17,000 tenants being bullied by their landlords, they forget to mention that that’s out of an overall total of over 9,000,000 renters. Renting isn’t just the right choice for many people, it’s can be a very cost-effective one too.”
