Most UK first-time buyers now pay more on the mortgage than they did in rent. In the US, the jump is far bigger

For years, buying a first home in Britain usually meant a smaller monthly bill than rent. That has flipped. Of the renters who bought their first home in September 2026, 56% now pay more on their mortgage than they paid in rent, up from about a third in September 2022, according to an analysis of Connells Group data by the UK estate agency Hamptons, reported by Mortgage Solutions and Bloomberg. On average, they pay about 8.6%, or £39 a month, more than their old rent.

"Higher mortgage rates have turned that equation on its head," said Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons. "The immediate monthly saving that once rewarded tenants for making the leap has largely disappeared." The squeeze is sharpest for older buyers, with 67% of first-time buyers in their 40s paying more than their old rent. Buyers who took on higher payments typically borrowed about 91% of the home's price, compared with 83% for those whose payments went down.

American buyers face a much bigger jump, though Zillow measures it differently, comparing typical rent with a typical new buyer's payment rather than each buyer's old rent. The typical US rent was $1,948 a month in August, while a typical new buyer's monthly payment, including taxes and insurance, was $3,014, Zillow reported in September. That's $1,066 a month more, or about 55%, and Zillow found renting cheaper than buying in all 50 of the largest metro areas. Its estimate assumed 10% down and a 6.67% mortgage rate. Rates have since climbed. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.40% in the week of October 15, up from 6.27% a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.

In the US, it's the people who already own who come out ahead. The median homeowner paid $1,395 a month for housing in 2024, while the median renter paid $1,487, according to the US Census Bureau, largely because about 40% of owners have no mortgage. Owners with a mortgage paid a median $2,035. A first-time buyer today starts well above all three.

Rent hasn't stood still either. Typical US rent was $1,932 in September 2026, up 2.9% from a year earlier, according to RentDataNow data built on the Zillow Observed Rent Index, and the annual pace has risen every month since March. Beveridge said the same thing is happening in Britain, where higher rents have mostly hit tenants who move so far but are likely to reach existing tenants if growth keeps picking up.

Beveridge noted that the long-term benefits of owning, building equity and eventually owning a home outright, still hold. For the US math, see should you rent or buy right now and cities where renting still beats buying, and for the September rent numbers city by city, our national rent data.

Sources

• Mortgage Solutions (October 19, 2026), for Hamptons' analysis of Connells Group data and the Beveridge quotes

• Bloomberg (October 18, 2026)

• Zillow (September 16, 2026), for US rent and new-buyer payments

• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (October 15, 2026)

• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates, 2024, tables B25064, B25088, and B25081

• RentDataNow national rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, September 2026