The cost of owning a family-sized home in the UK is now almost £1500 a year cheaper than renting, according to research.
Halifax looked at the cost of running a three-bedroom house compared with the typical monthly rent paid on a similar property, and found that it is about £124 a month or £1488 a year cheaper.
Researchers assumed that a home buyer had a deposit of around 27% and the cost of buying took into account mortgage payments, household maintenance, repairs, minor alterations and insurance.
The average monthly costs associated with owning a three-bedroom house stood at £645 in December 2013; 16% lower than the typical monthly rent of £769 paid on the same property type.
Owning a home is most affordable compared to renting in London with the typical home buyer paying £188 a month, or £2256 a year, less than the average renter.
Buying was found to be cheaper than renting in every region of the UK, although in the West Midlands and East Anglia the difference tended to be more "marginal", according to Halifax, which used a range of sources for its research.
In Scotland, the figures were £527 for the monthly cost of running a home compared with £568 to rent, making a difference of 7% or £41 a month.
Halifax said that the gap between owning and renting costs had been partly driven by average monthly rents rising by more than £100 since 2009. In 2008, home ownership was £226 a month more expensive than renting.
The Bank of England base rate, which has been held at an historic 0.5% low since 2009, has helped to keep mortgage payments relatively affordable, while Government schemes such as Help to Buy have also boosted the market.
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