Imofolio
Sign inGet started for free

Tunbridge Wells · report

Buy or rent in Tunbridge Wells

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
£1,543
Owning per month
£2,132

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £452,845 and the average private rent of £1,543 a month in Tunbridge Wells, 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
£1,543
Owning a month, not recovered
£2,132
Interest
£1,562
Running costs
£377
Return given up
£192
Cash out a month, if buying
£2,467

Gross rental yield in Tunbridge Wells

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
PeriodTunbridge Wells
Aug 20264.1%
Jul 20264.1%
Jun 20264.1%
May 20264.1%
Apr 20264.0%
Mar 20264.0%
Feb 20264.0%
Jan 20264.0%
Dec 20253.9%
Nov 20253.9%
Oct 20253.9%
Sep 20253.9%
Aug 20253.9%
Jul 20253.9%
Jun 20253.8%
May 20253.8%
Apr 20253.8%
Mar 20253.9%
Feb 20253.8%
Jan 20253.8%
Dec 20243.7%
Nov 20243.6%
Oct 20243.6%
Sep 20243.6%
Aug 20243.8%
Jul 20243.8%
Jun 20243.8%
May 20243.7%
Apr 20243.7%
Mar 20243.6%
Feb 20243.5%
Jan 20243.5%
Dec 20233.6%
Nov 20233.5%
Oct 20233.5%
Sep 20233.4%
Aug 20233.5%
Jul 20233.5%
Jun 20233.5%
May 20233.4%
Apr 20233.4%
Mar 20233.4%
Feb 20233.4%
Jan 20233.2%
Dec 20223.1%
Nov 20223.1%
Oct 20223.1%
Sep 20223.1%
Aug 20223.1%
Jul 20223.2%
Jun 20223.3%
May 20223.3%
Apr 20223.3%
Mar 20223.2%
Feb 20223.3%
Jan 20223.3%
Dec 20213.3%
Nov 20213.3%
Oct 20213.2%
Sep 20213.3%
Aug 20213.2%
Jul 20213.3%
Jun 20213.3%
May 20213.4%
Apr 20213.3%
Mar 20213.3%
Feb 20213.3%
Jan 20213.4%
Dec 20203.4%
Nov 20203.4%
Oct 20203.4%
Sep 20203.4%
Aug 20203.5%
Jul 20203.6%
Jun 20203.5%
May 20203.5%
Apr 20203.4%
Mar 20203.5%
Feb 20203.5%
Jan 20203.5%
Dec 20193.4%
Nov 20193.5%
Oct 20193.4%
Sep 20193.3%
Aug 20193.3%
Jul 20193.4%
Jun 20193.4%
May 20193.5%
Apr 20193.5%
Mar 20193.4%
Feb 20193.4%
Jan 20193.3%
Dec 20183.3%
Nov 20183.3%
Oct 20183.3%
Sep 20183.3%
Aug 20183.3%
Jul 20183.3%
Jun 20183.3%
May 20183.3%
Apr 20183.3%
Mar 20183.3%
Feb 20183.3%
Jan 20183.4%
Dec 20173.4%
Nov 20173.4%
Oct 20173.4%
Sep 20173.3%
Aug 20173.3%
Jul 20173.4%
Jun 20173.4%
May 20173.5%
Apr 20173.5%
Mar 20173.5%
Feb 20173.4%
Jan 20173.4%
Dec 20163.4%
Nov 20163.4%
Oct 20163.4%
Sep 20163.4%
Aug 20163.4%
Jul 20163.4%
Jun 20163.4%
May 20163.5%
Apr 20163.5%
Mar 20163.5%
Feb 20163.4%
Jan 20163.5%
Dec 20153.6%
Nov 20153.6%
Oct 20153.6%
Sep 20153.5%
Aug 20153.5%
Jul 20153.5%
Jun 20153.6%
May 20153.7%
Apr 20153.8%
Mar 20153.8%
Feb 20153.8%
Jan 20153.7%

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 Tunbridge Wells

Next 12 months

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £414,762 and £511,504 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£463,133
Chance of a rise
61%

Affordability

At the average sale price, a home costs £452,845. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £2,089 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
26%
Payment, one income
52%

New homes

51.4% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
140
Per 1,000 residents
1.2

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: Tunbridge Wells 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 November 2007.

Deepest fall
−22.2%
Recovery from the low
49 months

People and new homes

In 2025 the population grew by 644 while 290 homes were finished: 2.2 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
2.2
Population change, 2025
+644

Empty homes

5.1% of the 50,935 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
5.1%
Empty homes
2,615

Renovation

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

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
16%