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Bristol · report

Buy or rent in Bristol

Owning the average home costs less each month than renting 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
£1,893
Owning per month
£1,665

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £353,596 and the average private rent of £1,893 a month in Bristol, 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.

Owning costs less each month than renting.

Rent a month
£1,893
Owning a month, not recovered
£1,665
Interest
£1,220
Running costs
£295
Return given up
£150
Cash out a month, if buying
£1,926

Gross rental yield in Bristol

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
PeriodBristol
Aug 20266.4%
Jul 20266.4%
Jun 20266.3%
May 20266.4%
Apr 20266.5%
Mar 20266.5%
Feb 20266.6%
Jan 20266.5%
Dec 20256.5%
Nov 20256.4%
Oct 20256.2%
Sep 20256.1%
Aug 20256.1%
Jul 20256.1%
Jun 20256.1%
May 20256.0%
Apr 20255.9%
Mar 20255.9%
Feb 20255.9%
Jan 20256.0%
Dec 20246.0%
Nov 20246.0%
Oct 20245.9%
Sep 20246.0%
Aug 20246.1%
Jul 20246.2%
Jun 20246.2%
May 20246.2%
Apr 20246.3%
Mar 20246.2%
Feb 20246.2%
Jan 20246.0%
Dec 20235.9%
Nov 20235.8%
Oct 20235.8%
Sep 20235.7%
Aug 20235.8%
Jul 20235.8%
Jun 20235.8%
May 20235.8%
Apr 20235.7%
Mar 20235.6%
Feb 20235.5%
Jan 20235.4%
Dec 20225.3%
Nov 20225.3%
Oct 20225.3%
Sep 20225.3%
Aug 20225.4%
Jul 20225.4%
Jun 20225.4%
May 20225.3%
Apr 20225.3%
Mar 20225.3%
Feb 20225.4%
Jan 20225.3%
Dec 20215.4%
Nov 20215.4%
Oct 20215.5%
Sep 20215.5%
Aug 20215.4%
Jul 20215.4%
Jun 20215.3%
May 20215.4%
Apr 20215.4%
Mar 20215.4%
Feb 20215.4%
Jan 20215.3%
Dec 20205.3%
Nov 20205.4%
Oct 20205.4%
Sep 20205.4%
Aug 20205.4%
Jul 20205.5%
Jun 20205.5%
May 20205.5%
Apr 20205.5%
Mar 20205.6%
Feb 20205.6%
Jan 20205.6%
Dec 20195.5%
Nov 20195.4%
Oct 20195.4%
Sep 20195.4%
Aug 20195.5%
Jul 20195.6%
Jun 20195.6%
May 20195.5%
Apr 20195.5%
Mar 20195.5%
Feb 20195.5%
Jan 20195.4%
Dec 20185.4%
Nov 20185.4%
Oct 20185.3%
Sep 20185.3%
Aug 20185.3%
Jul 20185.4%
Jun 20185.5%
May 20185.5%
Apr 20185.5%
Mar 20185.4%
Feb 20185.4%
Jan 20185.5%
Dec 20175.5%
Nov 20175.5%
Oct 20175.4%
Sep 20175.4%
Aug 20175.4%
Jul 20175.5%
Jun 20175.5%
May 20175.6%
Apr 20175.6%
Mar 20175.6%
Feb 20175.6%
Jan 20175.6%
Dec 20165.6%
Nov 20165.5%
Oct 20165.4%
Sep 20165.3%
Aug 20165.3%
Jul 20165.4%
Jun 20165.5%
May 20165.4%
Apr 20165.5%
Mar 20165.5%
Feb 20165.5%
Jan 20165.6%
Dec 20155.6%
Nov 20155.6%
Oct 20155.6%
Sep 20155.6%
Aug 20155.7%
Jul 20155.8%
Jun 20155.8%
May 20155.9%
Apr 20155.9%
Mar 20155.9%
Feb 20155.9%
Jan 20155.9%

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 Bristol

Next 12 months

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £349,840 and £392,244 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£371,042
Chance of a rise
85%

Affordability

At the average sale price, a home costs £353,596. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £1,631 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
25%
Payment, one income
50%

New homes

178.9% more homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
2,480
Per 1,000 residents
5.0

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: Bristol 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 5 times since 1995. The deepest began in October 2007.

Deepest fall
−21.3%
Recovery from the low
60 months

People and new homes

In 2025 the population grew by 1,051 while 870 homes were finished: 1.2 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
1.2
Population change, 2025
+1,051

Empty homes

5.5% of the 202,815 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
5.5%
Empty homes
11,235

Renovation

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

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
19%