Imofolio

Colchester · report

Buy or rent in Colchester

Renting the average home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is the average of all private tenancies. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.

Rent per month
£1,200
Owning per month
£1,385

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £294,210 and the average private rent of £1,200 a month in Colchester, and a mortgage rate of 4.6%.

Assumptions
4.6
1
Buildings insurance, maintenance, and any service charge and ground rent. Council tax is paid by tenants too, so it is left out.
3
What the deposit and purchase costs could earn if invested instead.
7
Stamp duty (land transaction tax in Wales, LBTT in Scotland), conveyancing, survey and lender's fees, paid once.

Renting costs less each month than owning.

Rent a month
£1,200
Owning a month, not recovered
£1,385
Interest
£1,015
Running costs
£245
Return given up
£125
Cash out a month, if buying
£1,603

Gross rental yield in Colchester

A year's rent as a share of the average sale price, month by month. Higher means rent is dear compared with buying.

Show the numbers
PeriodColchester
Aug 20264.9%
Jul 20264.8%
Jun 20264.9%
May 20264.9%
Apr 20264.9%
Mar 20264.9%
Feb 20264.9%
Jan 20264.9%
Dec 20254.9%
Nov 20254.8%
Oct 20254.8%
Sep 20254.8%
Aug 20254.7%
Jul 20254.7%
Jun 20254.7%
May 20254.6%
Apr 20254.6%
Mar 20254.6%
Feb 20254.6%
Jan 20254.6%
Dec 20244.5%
Nov 20244.5%
Oct 20244.5%
Sep 20244.4%
Aug 20244.3%
Jul 20244.3%
Jun 20244.3%
May 20244.3%
Apr 20244.3%
Mar 20244.3%
Feb 20244.3%
Jan 20244.2%
Dec 20234.2%
Nov 20234.1%
Oct 20234.2%
Sep 20234.1%
Aug 20234.1%
Jul 20234.0%
Jun 20233.9%
May 20233.8%
Apr 20233.8%
Mar 20233.7%
Feb 20233.7%
Jan 20233.7%
Dec 20223.6%
Nov 20223.6%
Oct 20223.7%
Sep 20223.7%
Aug 20223.7%
Jul 20223.7%
Jun 20223.7%
May 20223.8%
Apr 20223.8%
Mar 20223.8%
Feb 20223.8%
Jan 20223.8%
Dec 20213.8%
Nov 20213.8%
Oct 20213.9%
Sep 20213.9%
Aug 20214.0%
Jul 20214.0%
Jun 20214.1%
May 20214.1%
Apr 20214.2%
Mar 20214.1%
Feb 20214.0%
Jan 20213.9%
Dec 20203.8%
Nov 20203.8%
Oct 20203.8%
Sep 20203.9%
Aug 20203.9%
Jul 20204.0%
Jun 20203.9%
May 20204.0%
Apr 20204.0%
Mar 20204.0%
Feb 20204.0%
Jan 20204.0%
Dec 20194.0%
Nov 20194.0%
Oct 20194.0%
Sep 20193.9%
Aug 20193.9%
Jul 20193.9%
Jun 20193.9%
May 20194.0%
Apr 20193.9%
Mar 20193.9%
Feb 20193.9%
Jan 20193.9%
Dec 20183.8%
Nov 20183.9%
Oct 20183.8%
Sep 20183.8%
Aug 20183.8%
Jul 20183.8%
Jun 20183.8%
May 20183.8%
Apr 20183.8%
Mar 20183.8%
Feb 20183.7%
Jan 20183.7%
Dec 20173.7%
Nov 20173.7%
Oct 20173.7%
Sep 20173.7%
Aug 20173.7%
Jul 20173.7%
Jun 20173.7%
May 20173.7%
Apr 20173.7%
Mar 20173.8%
Feb 20173.7%
Jan 20173.8%
Dec 20163.8%
Nov 20163.7%
Oct 20163.7%
Sep 20163.7%
Aug 20163.8%
Jul 20163.8%
Jun 20163.9%
May 20163.9%
Apr 20164.0%
Mar 20164.0%
Feb 20164.0%
Jan 20164.0%
Dec 20154.0%
Nov 20154.0%
Oct 20154.1%
Sep 20154.1%
Aug 20154.1%
Jul 20154.2%
Jun 20154.2%
May 20154.2%
Apr 20154.2%
Mar 20154.3%
Feb 20154.3%
Jan 20154.3%

The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are ONS's average of all private tenancies, new and continuing, which runs below what a new tenant pays; Scotland's are mostly advertised new lets, and its councils and Northern Ireland's take their nation's figure.

Other reports for Colchester

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £279,323 and £302,628 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£290,976
Chance of a rise
36%

At the average sale price, a home costs £294,210. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £1,357 a month. The UK sets no cap on the payment; no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income.

Payment, two incomes
21%
Payment, one income
41%

61.9% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
170
Per 1,000 residents
0.8

Figures for United Kingdom: Colchester has no reliable figures of its own.

Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q1 2025.

Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
1.8%

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 4 times since 1995. The deepest began in January 2008.

Deepest fall
−26.7%
Recovery from the low
64 months

In 2025 the population grew by 1,422 while 350 homes were finished: 4.1 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
4.1
Population change, 2025
+1,422

3.9% of the 83,165 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
3.9%
Empty homes
3,220

In 2025, 16% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
16%