Everyone deserves the right to have a roof over their head. But the reality is that not everyone can afford to own their own home. OneRoof and Valocity's latest data compared rent levels with mortgage payments in suburbs around the country to see if there are some places where it is cheaper to buy - but nowhere in Tauranga fits that criteria. Property reporter Zoe Hunter finds out which of the city's suburbs have the biggest and smallest gap between the cost of renting and buying.
It is still cheaper to rent a home in Tauranga than to buy despite low mortgage rates, new data shows.
OneRoof and Valocity's latest figures revealed while cities like Rotorua had suburbs in which servicing a mortgage was cheaper than paying rent, this was not the case in any Tauranga suburb.
The data compared the monthly mortgage repayment on a median sale price for more than 900 suburbs across the country in the first week of July.
It excluded areas with less than 20 rentals and 30 sales and assumed an interest rate of 5 per cent on a 30-year term with a 20 per cent deposit.