Newport 'among best places in Britain to buy instead of rent'

In slightly more than 20 years of renting, people in Newport would spend the same amount of money as it takes to raise a deposit and pay off a mortgage with interest, according to a study by estate agency Yopa.

In comparison, the average number of rental years it would take to become a mortgage-free homeowner in all of the locations surveyed is approximately 30.

In Worcester, at the bottom of the list, it's almost double the national average, at nearly 60 years.

The top ten places to buy a home in England and Wales instead of renting:

1. Swansea and Salford (tied)
2. Gateshead
3. Newport
4. Portsmouth
5. Manchester and Dundee (tied)
6. Newcastle upon Tyne
7. Glasgow
8. Nottingham
9. Coventry
10. Norwich

The study was commissioned to "help would-be buyers identify the locations where getting on the property ladder is a better long-term financial decision than renting".

According to Zoopla, at the end of 2021 rental prices were rising at their fastest rate in 13 years.

The cost-of-living crisis is also forcing many people to re-evaluate their finances and consider their future in the property market.

Mike Scott, chief analyst at Yopa, said: "While rents do vary greatly across the country, there is an even wider variation in house prices, and so it tends to be the cheaper areas where house prices are a lower multiple of average rents, as we see in the results of this survey.

"That makes these lower-priced areas attractive targets for landlords looking for investment properties as well as for renters looking to get their feet on the property ladder.

"With rents being less volatile than house prices, these regions may see slower house price growth during boom times with their prices being to some extent driven by rental yields.

"On the other hand, if in the future there is a downturn in house prices, it would probably affect these regions less since the rental yields would help to underpin prices."