For sale signsStepping on to the property ladder instead of renting will save people almost £200,000 over a lifetime, according to new research.

The report by Barclays showed that the average total of buying, paying mortgages and maintaining a home costs £429,000 over 50 years, not even accounting for the value of the home at the end, compared with £623,000 in rent.

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Initially it is cheaper to be a tenant, however rents inflate over time and owning property means financial security in retirement as the buyer will have repaid their mortgage and owns the home outright after 25 years.

Andy Gray, head of mortgages at Barclays, said: "The cost of stepping on or moving up the housing ladder can be a big barrier for many, but the long-term benefits hugely exceed the initial expense."

The study showed that over a 50-year span, mortgage payments account for about 50% of occupying the home, with two-fifths of it being interest cost and the rest capital repayment.

It showed that higher rates of inflation significantly increase the value of owning compared with renting as payments continue to increase with inflation over the long term but after a mortgage is paid off, the only costs are maintenance and insurance.

The Barclays report went on the assumption that the average first-time buyer is in their early thirties and could expect to live about 50 years more, with a longer life increasing the value of ownership relative to renting.

The figures are based on the assumption that the buyer and renter never move, but trading up the housing ladder for both groups would increase the relative value of ownership over renting.

Even though there is an enormous difference in rents and house prices across the UK, the overall result is that buying a home anywhere in the country will save money in the long run as well as provide financial security in people's old age.

London has the highest house prices overall, with an average of £343,522, while renting for a year would cost £17,520. The study calculated that the lifetime cash savings from owning over renting in London would be £396,049. By contrast, the South West has cheaper rents compared with house prices, so the advantage of saving £33,863 over a lifetime is relatively small.