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Has the rent-buy balance tipped?

Somehow we all know in our bones that buying a home is cheaper than renting and research has been confirming this for us aplenty.

There are a great number of tenants out there though that may not ignored the message, but still not bought for many a good reason, not least the whopping prices of properties in cities like London where the deposit and mortgage payments are well above the average monthly rental.

Now Abbey National bank hands another reason to hold fire on buying - according to a report out from them today, the balance has tipped and it's now cheaper in some parts of the country to rent a property over 25 years than to pay a mortgage.

On average, the innate reason is still satisfied: over a 25-year period it is 30% cheaper to buy a property in the UK than it is to rent. Abbey says the average rent in the UK on a two-bedroom flat is £528 a month, and the average mortgage repayment on the same property £426 a month.

And renting is dead money after all - if house prices shoot up as they have been doing recently you would not only save money but make a mint from buying.

However, says Abbey, there are some places where the 'average' is not holding out. Renters do better in Wales and the South West - though this does not take into account the fact that people who have bought will own a mortgage-free property at the end of their mortgage term.

Sue Hayes, director of Abbey's Product Marketing, said: "In the short term, a private tenant might be up to £1,000 a year better off than someone who had bought a property in areas such as Wales and the South West."

"However, in the long term, paying rent is simply lining landlords' pockets and tenants wouldn't even have a property to show for it. First-time buyers might find it difficult to get on the property ladder, but they are better off in the market than out."