St Albans named as Britain’s most cost-effective place to rent property outside London

Renting instead of buying is more cost-effective in St Albans than anywhere in Britain outside London, new research has revealed.

According to a study by Zoopla, renting in the St Albans local authority area is 22.4 per cent cheaper than paying a monthly mortgage.

Researchers compared the cost of renting and buying two-bed properties and found that the median rent in the St Albans area is £1,202, while a typical monthly mortgage repayment is £1,472 – a difference of £270.

This is based on a 25-year mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 1.89 per cent (assuming an 85 per cent loan-to-value ratio).

London boroughs also heavily favour renters, with upmarket Kensington & Chelsea showing the biggest savings of 39.4 per cent (£1,133).

Covering monthly mortgage repayments is less expensive than paying rent in 75 per cent of Britain’s local authority areas, however.

Hartlepool was named as the local authority area where buying made the most financial sense, with a -47.4 per cent difference in median rent against monthly mortgage repayments.