Had you bought an average home in Brighton and Hove in January 2015 with a 10% deposit, by July 2026 you'd be £182,000 better off having bought.
| Bought in | Difference | Bought | Rented |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2015 | +£182,000 | £253,000 | £71,000 |
| Jan 2018 | +£100,000 | £181,000 | £81,000 |
| Jan 2021 | +£27,000 | £116,000 | £89,000 |
| Jan 2024 | −£16,000 | £56,000 | £72,000 |
Buying came out ahead from 2015, 2018 and 2021; renting came out ahead from 2024. Bought is the home's value now, less the mortgage still owed, plus the buyer's savings. Rented is the renter's savings. Tap a year to open it in the calculator.
An average home in Brighton cost £408,948 in July 2026, up 40% since January 2015. Rent averaged £1,809 a month, up 46%.
With a 10% deposit, a 25-year mortgage on that home at the Bank of England's average two-year fixed rate (4.79%) comes to about £2,107 a month, £298 more than the average rent, before upkeep and buying costs such as stamp duty.
Monthly costs don't settle it. Each result above comes down to what the home gained in value against what the renter's savings earned, and that changes with the year you start.
Each figure is the rent vs buy calculator with its usual settings for Brighton: the average home price and rent for the month you'd have bought, a 10% deposit, a 25-year mortgage at the Bank of England's average two-year fixed rate, refixed every two years, stamp duty under the rules of the day, 1% of the price in fees and upkeep at 1% of the value a year, and savings growing at 5% a year. Both paths start with the same money and spend the same each month: whichever costs less each month invests the difference. The figures are for the whole local council area.
Figures to July 2026.
UK: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Cardiff.
US: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Boston, Washington, DC, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, San Diego, Philadelphia, Nashville, Tampa, Charlotte.
Every other place, over 600 of them, is in the rent vs buy calculator. See how they all compare since 2015.
For illustration, not financial advice. It shows what happened to real prices and rates in the past, not what happens next.