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Westminster · report

Buy or rent in Westminster

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
£3,209
Owning per month
£4,177

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £887,206 and the average private rent of £3,209 a month in Westminster, 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
£3,209
Owning a month, not recovered
£4,177
Interest
£3,061
Running costs
£739
Return given up
£377
Cash out a month, if buying
£4,833

Gross rental yield in Westminster

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
PeriodWestminster
Aug 20264.3%
Jul 20264.3%
Jun 20264.3%
May 20264.3%
Apr 20264.4%
Mar 20264.3%
Feb 20264.1%
Jan 20264.0%
Dec 20254.1%
Nov 20253.9%
Oct 20253.9%
Sep 20253.7%
Aug 20253.7%
Jul 20253.5%
Jun 20253.4%
May 20253.6%
Apr 20253.9%
Mar 20254.1%
Feb 20253.9%
Jan 20253.9%
Dec 20243.8%
Nov 20243.7%
Oct 20243.5%
Sep 20243.5%
Aug 20243.4%
Jul 20243.6%
Jun 20243.4%
May 20243.4%
Apr 20243.2%
Mar 20243.1%
Feb 20243.0%
Jan 20243.0%
Dec 20233.1%
Nov 20233.3%
Oct 20233.2%
Sep 20233.3%
Aug 20233.1%
Jul 20232.9%
Jun 20232.8%
May 20232.7%
Apr 20232.7%
Mar 20232.7%
Feb 20232.6%
Jan 20232.5%
Dec 20222.5%
Nov 20222.6%
Oct 20222.6%
Sep 20222.6%
Aug 20222.6%
Jul 20222.6%
Jun 20222.6%
May 20222.6%
Apr 20222.5%
Mar 20222.5%
Feb 20222.5%
Jan 20222.4%
Dec 20212.4%
Nov 20212.5%
Oct 20212.5%
Sep 20212.4%
Aug 20212.4%
Jul 20212.7%
Jun 20212.9%
May 20212.8%
Apr 20212.8%
Mar 20212.8%
Feb 20212.9%
Jan 20213.0%
Dec 20203.1%
Nov 20203.1%
Oct 20203.1%
Sep 20203.0%
Aug 20202.9%
Jul 20203.1%
Jun 20202.9%
May 20203.0%
Apr 20202.8%
Mar 20202.9%
Feb 20202.8%
Jan 20202.9%
Dec 20192.9%
Nov 20193.0%
Oct 20193.1%
Sep 20193.1%
Aug 20193.1%
Jul 20192.9%
Jun 20192.8%
May 20192.7%
Apr 20192.8%
Mar 20192.9%
Feb 20193.0%
Jan 20192.8%
Dec 20182.8%
Nov 20182.6%
Oct 20182.7%
Sep 20182.7%
Aug 20182.8%
Jul 20182.8%
Jun 20182.8%
May 20182.8%
Apr 20182.7%
Mar 20182.6%
Feb 20182.4%
Jan 20182.4%
Dec 20172.5%
Nov 20172.6%
Oct 20172.6%
Sep 20172.6%
Aug 20172.7%
Jul 20172.6%
Jun 20172.5%
May 20172.5%
Apr 20172.5%
Mar 20172.6%
Feb 20172.6%
Jan 20172.7%
Dec 20162.7%
Nov 20162.8%
Oct 20162.9%
Sep 20162.9%
Aug 20162.9%
Jul 20162.7%
Jun 20162.8%
May 20162.8%
Apr 20162.9%
Mar 20162.9%
Feb 20162.8%
Jan 20162.7%
Dec 20152.7%
Nov 20152.7%
Oct 20152.9%
Sep 20152.9%
Aug 20153.0%
Jul 20153.0%
Jun 20153.0%
May 20153.0%
Apr 20152.9%
Mar 20152.8%
Feb 20152.8%
Jan 20152.8%

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 Westminster

Next 12 months

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £666,477 and £1,000,614 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£833,546
Chance of a rise
34%

Affordability

At the average sale price, a home costs £887,206. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £4,093 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
47%
Payment, one income
93%

New homes

43.2% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
120
Per 1,000 residents
0.6

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: Westminster 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 18 times since 1995. The deepest began in January 2023.

Deepest fall
−29.1%
Recovery from the low
Not yet

People and new homes

In 2025 the population fell by 3,247 while 160 homes were finished.

Homes finished, 2025
160
Population change, 2025
−3,247

Empty homes

23.1% of the 128,912 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
23.1%
Empty homes
29,775

Renovation

In 2025, 19% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
19%