Housing
The true cost of renting is not just the rent
Comparing rent to a mortgage payment is the wrong comparison, and it misleads in both directions.
Housing
Renting, buying, mortgages and the costs that never make the headline figure.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Housing
The costs of buying a home that never appear in the asking price
The purchase price is the number everyone negotiates. The running costs are the number that decides whether the purchase works.
More in Housing
Housing
Early mortgage payments are almost entirely interest, and here is why
Amortisation is not a trick played on borrowers. It follows inevitably from charging interest on a balance that starts at its…
Housing
Loan-to-value bands are where mortgage pricing actually jumps
The relationship between deposit size and interest rate is not smooth. It steps, and the steps are worth aiming at.
Housing
Fixing your mortgage rate buys certainty, not a better outcome
Choosing between fixed and variable is usually presented as a forecast. It is better treated as a question about what you could…
Housing
Service charges rise on somebody else's decisions
Buying an apartment means buying into a cost you do not control, and the arithmetic of that is rarely done before completion.
Housing
The energy cost of a home is decided before you move in
Insulation, heating system and building fabric set a running cost that behaviour can only partly change.
Housing
Lenders calculate what you can borrow, not what you can afford
An affordability assessment is a risk model run for the lender's benefit, and its output is a maximum rather than a recommendation.
Housing
Housing costs above a third of income squeeze everything else
The ratio is a rough convention rather than a law, and the reason it keeps appearing is that the arithmetic downstream is…
Housing
Sharing a home cuts the largest cost by the largest amount
No spending change available to most households comes close to splitting the housing bill, and the arithmetic is worth stating…
Housing
Property taxes and local charges are the bill nobody negotiates
Recurring charges levied on where you live are treated as fixed, and in several respects they are not.
Housing
Moving is a recurring cost, and short tenancies multiply it
Each move carries fees, deposits, overlapping rent and days off work, and the total is rarely counted against the housing decision.