TL;DR
Owning generally wins over 25+ year horizons in the UK due to ongoing housing supply constraints. Renting can win if you reinvest the price-vs-rent gap in equities AND you're disciplined enough to actually do it.
In short
The honest comparison: UK house price growth has been roughly 2-3% real over decades. Equities have returned 5-6% real. If you rent and invest the difference (deposit + mortgage saved vs rent), you can come out ahead — but only if rent stays low and you don't move often. Most renters either don't save the gap or move frequently enough to incur big costs.
We're working on a full deep-dive for this article — including historical data, charts, and worked examples. In the meantime, you can run a free simulation to explore the underlying numbers yourself.
Frequently asked questions
- Does owning a home count as part of my FIRE number?
- No — it's a consumption asset (you have to live somewhere) rather than an income asset. Don't include the equity in your portfolio calculation, but do remove housing costs from your retirement expenses.
- Should I pay off the mortgage before FIRE?
- Depends on the rate. Below 4%, the math usually favours keeping the mortgage and investing extra cash. Above 5%, paying down accelerates net-worth growth.
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