The renting vs. buying showdown!

Robert Powell hits the streets to get your take on whether it's better to rent or buy property

One million more people are renting their home now, compared to six years ago.

And with the average deposit for a first-time buyer sat at a massive £31,700 – who can blame them?

What’s more, high inflation and low interest rates now mean that the average person will have to wait well into their 30s to be able to save enough to buy their first property.

But while it’s undeniable that most buyers are now purchasing their first home later in life, the change the property bubble has had on our overall home-owning tendencies is less clear.

So to try and find out a bit more about our modern attitudes to property I’m going to hit the streets to get your take on a few renting and buying dilemmas.

Is renting property just throwing money away?

A recent survey by the property website Zoopla showed that renting was actually more expensive than buying in 80% of Britain’s 50 biggest towns and cities.

But this research was based on a mortgage where you only pay off the interest every month – not the actual debt.

And anyway; if interest rates rise, as many expect them to, renting will still be cheaper than buying, even if you have an interest-only mortgage.

It’s really down to your own situation; I – like many young people – certainly can’t afford a deposit for a property of my own, so I have to rent.

But are landlords capitalising on this captive rental market – and treating tenants unfairly?

Do renters get treated unfairly by landlords?

As most of the people I’ve spoken to today said; just as there are good and bad tenants, there are also good and bad landlords.

But still, rents have risen by 3.9% over the last year and are expected to increase even further over 2011.

These rises can broadly be explained by increasing prices and hikes in tax. But obviously the boom in tenant demand is also pushing rates up.

So with renting becoming pricier by the month – should everyone be looking to buy their own property?

Should everyone aim to eventually buy their own property?

A new survey by the Building Society Association shows that 95% of us think that people should still aspire to eventually buy their own property.

Reasons cited for this continued aspiration include pride, stability and security, and being able to make a place your own.

It seems that despite the housing bubble and ensuing recession, most of us are still fixated on eventually owning our own property.

Current financial conditions may delay this aspiration – creating a booming and perfectly acceptable rental sector. But for many of us a bought home is where the heart really is.

More: Rental property not up to scratch | Rate rises will hit 90% of borrowers | Landlords, cash in on 1m extra tenants!