Rent vs buy: UK price-to-rent ratios
The price-to-rent ratio divides the average house price by a year of rent. As a rule of thumb, below 15 tends to favour buying, 16–20 is balanced, and above 20 tends to favour renting. Across the UK the ratio is 16.3 (£270,080 average price ÷ £16,596 annual rent), which is balanced between renting and buying. Below are 38 UK cities and regions, lowest ratio (most buy-friendly) first.
| Area | Avg price | Rent / mo | Price-to-rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £209,071 | £1,204 | 14.5 |
| Manchester | £247,344 | £1,352 | 15.2 |
| Portsmouth | £250,377 | £1,366 | 15.3 |
| Southampton | £234,150 | £1,250 | 15.6 |
| Bristol | £353,662 | £1,883 | 15.7 |
| Scotlandregion | £191,927 | £1,009 | 15.9 |
| Nottingham | £192,543 | £1,006 | 15.9 |
| Hull | £135,051 | £690 | 16.3 |
| Norwich | £230,372 | £1,152 | 16.7 |
| Liverpool | £183,615 | £901 | 17.0 |
| Sunderland | £145,293 | £701 | 17.3 |
| North Eastregion | £163,190 | £776 | 17.5 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £152,101 | £709 | 17.9 |
| Coventry | £218,334 | £1,017 | 17.9 |
| Birmingham | £235,682 | £1,088 | 18.1 |
| Leeds | £246,882 | £1,134 | 18.1 |
| Plymouth | £216,463 | £994 | 18.1 |
| Reading | £345,112 | £1,577 | 18.2 |
| Brighton and Hove | £406,137 | £1,816 | 18.6 |
| North Westregion | £216,138 | £954 | 18.9 |
| Leicester | £234,631 | £1,024 | 19.1 |
| Wolverhampton | £215,264 | £934 | 19.2 |
| Cardiff | £271,166 | £1,157 | 19.5 |
| Milton Keynes | £318,038 | £1,336 | 19.8 |
| Derby | £205,065 | £852 | 20.1 |
| Londonregion | £552,655 | £2,294 | 20.1 |
| Oxford | £475,481 | £1,958 | 20.2 |
| Yorkshire and The Humberregion | £207,974 | £856 | 20.2 |
| South Westregion | £302,618 | £1,234 | 20.4 |
| Swansea | £206,254 | £838 | 20.5 |
| Wakefield | £196,895 | £794 | 20.7 |
| Bradford | £188,505 | £746 | 21.1 |
| Walesregion | £212,489 | £836 | 21.2 |
| Cambridge | £462,145 | £1,805 | 21.3 |
| West Midlandsregion | £250,625 | £966 | 21.6 |
| East of Englandregion | £336,300 | £1,280 | 21.9 |
| East Midlandsregion | £241,620 | £914 | 22.0 |
| South Eastregion | £376,819 | £1,418 | 22.1 |
Sources: HM Land Registry — UK House Price Index (UKHPI) (April 2026) and ONS — Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics (May 2026). Joined on exact ONS GSS geography codes. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Both datasets are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.