Rent calculator: Find the rental value of your property

If you are thinking about adding to your property portfolio or remortgaging an existing buy-to-let property, it can be a helpful to gain an idea of how much rent you can expect to earn on the property investment now and in the future, and that’s where a new rent calculator could help.

The online tool, which was launched yesterday, shows users how much it would cost to rent a property in their chosen area for a lifetime (50 years).

Users simply have to enter a postcode or city name, and the tool takes them to an interactive map, that will show them how much it costs to rent in that area for a lifetime, and how that compares to the average cost to buy a property in that area. It also shows how it compares to other areas in the country for rent and cost to buy.

As well as showing users the cost of renting in their chosen postcode for a lifetime, it shows them how their location compares to other areas in the UK and where it ranks on a scale of affordable to expensive.

The tool also supplies information on the most and least affordable locations to rent for a lifetime. The top five most expensive locations were found to be:

1. Virginia Water, Surrey – £2,426,400 (average cost of renting for 50 years)
2. Cobham, Surrey – £2,322,000
3. Esher, Surrey– £2,300,400  
4. Ascot, Berkshire – £1,993,800
5. Windlesham, Surrey – £1,938,000

Likewise, the top five most affordable locations were found to be:

1. Darvel, East Ayrshire – £187,200 (average cost of renting for 50 years)
2. Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway – £188,400
3. Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway – £194,400
4. Halkirk, Caithness – £198,000
5. Annan, Dumfries and Galloway – £200,400

As well as all of this, the tool also shows users the difference between the average lifetime cost of renting in each area compared to the average house price, giving the average cost of each and the percentage difference between the two.

The tool, which can be found by clicking here, also reveals the top locations where it is more expensive to rent compared to buying, and the locations where it is most expensive to buy compared to renting.

Richard Petrie, marketing director for Thomas Sanderson, said: “There is often a misconception that renting is cheaper than buying a house, but when you look at the cost over 50 years, renting usually ends up a lot more expensive. We wanted to show this information in an accessible and interactive format, which is why we came up with this handy tool.”

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