Renting tips cheaper than a new mortgage for the first time since June 2025: Rightmove

Rightmove's April tracker has rent at £1,547 a month against £1,670 for a new mortgage — the first crossover since June 2025, with renting now cheaper in two-thirds of local authorities, up from a third in February. The mechanism is the average two-year fix moving from 4.24% to 5.35% in three months, lifting buying costs faster than rents. For buyers, the rent-and-wait sum now wins on monthly cashflow; for sellers, asking strategy has to assume a thinner first-time-buyer pipeline, particularly in London and the South East. Scotland and the North East still favour buying.