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St. Helens · report

Buy or rent in St. Helens

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
£811
Owning per month
£878

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £186,445 and the average private rent of £811 a month in St. Helens, 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
£811
Owning a month, not recovered
£878
Interest
£643
Running costs
£155
Return given up
£79
Cash out a month, if buying
£1,016

Gross rental yield in St. Helens

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
PeriodSt. Helens
Aug 20265.2%
Jul 20265.2%
Jun 20265.1%
May 20265.1%
Apr 20265.1%
Mar 20265.1%
Feb 20265.0%
Jan 20265.0%
Dec 20255.1%
Nov 20255.1%
Oct 20255.1%
Sep 20255.1%
Aug 20255.1%
Jul 20255.3%
Jun 20255.4%
May 20255.3%
Apr 20255.2%
Mar 20255.1%
Feb 20255.2%
Jan 20255.2%
Dec 20245.1%
Nov 20245.0%
Oct 20244.9%
Sep 20244.9%
Aug 20244.9%
Jul 20244.9%
Jun 20244.9%
May 20244.9%
Apr 20244.9%
Mar 20244.8%
Feb 20244.9%
Jan 20244.8%
Dec 20234.8%
Nov 20234.7%
Oct 20234.8%
Sep 20234.8%
Aug 20234.8%
Jul 20234.8%
Jun 20234.7%
May 20234.6%
Apr 20234.5%
Mar 20234.5%
Feb 20234.5%
Jan 20234.4%
Dec 20224.4%
Nov 20224.4%
Oct 20224.5%
Sep 20224.4%
Aug 20224.3%
Jul 20224.3%
Jun 20224.3%
May 20224.4%
Apr 20224.6%
Mar 20224.6%
Feb 20224.6%
Jan 20224.6%
Dec 20214.7%
Nov 20214.6%
Oct 20214.7%
Sep 20214.6%
Aug 20214.6%
Jul 20214.6%
Jun 20214.7%
May 20214.8%
Apr 20214.8%
Mar 20214.8%
Feb 20214.9%
Jan 20215.0%
Dec 20205.0%
Nov 20205.0%
Oct 20205.0%
Sep 20205.0%
Aug 20205.0%
Jul 20205.1%
Jun 20205.2%
May 20205.3%
Apr 20205.3%
Mar 20205.3%
Feb 20205.3%
Jan 20205.3%
Dec 20195.2%
Nov 20195.3%
Oct 20195.2%
Sep 20195.2%
Aug 20195.2%
Jul 20195.3%
Jun 20195.4%
May 20195.4%
Apr 20195.3%
Mar 20195.4%
Feb 20195.3%
Jan 20195.4%
Dec 20185.3%
Nov 20185.3%
Oct 20185.3%
Sep 20185.4%
Aug 20185.4%
Jul 20185.3%
Jun 20185.4%
May 20185.4%
Apr 20185.4%
Mar 20185.4%
Feb 20185.4%
Jan 20185.4%
Dec 20175.5%
Nov 20175.5%
Oct 20175.4%
Sep 20175.4%
Aug 20175.4%
Jul 20175.4%
Jun 20175.4%
May 20175.5%
Apr 20175.5%
Mar 20175.6%
Feb 20175.6%
Jan 20175.5%
Dec 20165.5%
Nov 20165.5%
Oct 20165.4%
Sep 20165.4%
Aug 20165.4%
Jul 20165.5%
Jun 20165.5%
May 20165.7%
Apr 20165.8%
Mar 20165.9%
Feb 20165.8%
Jan 20165.9%
Dec 20155.8%
Nov 20155.8%
Oct 20155.8%
Sep 20155.7%
Aug 20155.7%
Jul 20155.6%
Jun 20155.6%
May 20155.6%
Apr 20155.7%
Mar 20155.7%
Feb 20155.8%
Jan 20155.6%

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 St. Helens

Next 12 months

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £178,375 and £209,011 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£193,693
Chance of a rise
73%

Affordability

At the average sale price, a home costs £186,445. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £860 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
14%
Payment, one income
28%

New homes

101.7% more homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
900
Per 1,000 residents
4.7

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: St. Helens 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%

Past cycles

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 7 times since 1995. The deepest began in July 2007.

Deepest fall
−22.0%
Recovery from the low
91 months

People and new homes

In 2025 the population grew by 1,477 while 390 homes were finished: 3.8 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
3.8
Population change, 2025
+1,477

Empty homes

4.6% of the 85,152 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
4.6%
Empty homes
3,955

Renovation

In 2025, 7% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
7%