To buy or not to buy: how much does it cost to buy a house in your chosen postcode compared with renting for a lifetime?

Have you ever wondered, while doggedly saving up your pennies for a deposit, whether you'd be better off shelving the increasingly elusive homeowner dream and renting for the rest of your life instead?

You wouldn't be the only one, which is why a new online tool has just launched to help you compare the cost of renting in your chosen area for 50 years, a 'lifetime' as defined by Barclays, with the cost of buying there.

Users simply input a UK postcode or city name before being shown how much it would cost to rent there for a lifetime, given average monthly rental prices, compared to buying a house, given average local property prices.

The percentage difference is also shown, so you can quickly see whether it would be cheaper to buy than rent, or vice versa.

The tool, designed by windows furnishing company Thomas Sanderson, features over 1,300 areas and 2,650 postcodes.

The results of your search are clearly displayed on an interactive map, which also reveals nearby prices and lists the ten most and least affordable locations for renters.

Surprisingly, London is only the ninth most expensive area to rent for a lifetime.

Surrey hotspots Virginia Water, Cobham and Esher place first, second and third respectively and each costing more than £2,300,000 over five decades.

Unsurprisingly, the capital's SW1A postcode covering Whitehall and Buckingham Palace emerges as its priciest postcode to rent in, with eye-watering lifetime costs of £4,399,800.

The best value for renters is found in Darvel, East Ayrshire, near Glasgow, where the average cost of renting for 50 years is just £187,200.

This smart tool also lists the locations where it is cheaper to buy than rent, and those where it is cheaper to rent than buy — helpful if you're umming and ahhing over your next steps.

Of course, there are hidden costs associated with buying, from stamp duty, surveyors’ fees and solicitors’ fees to mortgage arrangement fees, home insurance and removal van costs.

However, once capital appreciation is taken into consideration, it is almost always better to buy if you can over the long term.

In EC3, covering almost all of the City, you'd pay a whopping 264 per cent more over 50 years if you rented rather than bought.

The average lifetime cost of renting stands at £2,879,400, compared to the average house price of £790,933.

It's a similar story on the outskirts of London, albeit with lower prices. In SE2, home to Abbey Wood and Thamesmead, renting would cost £679,800 compared to buying a house for £331,936, a difference of 204.8 per cent.

Richard Petrie, marketing director for Thomas Sanderson, said: "There is often a misconception that renting is cheaper than buying a house, but when you look at the cost over 50 years, renting usually ends up a lot more expensive."

There are a few exceptions — it is nearly 45 per cent cheaper to rent than buy over a lifetime in TQ8, the postcode for the popular seaside town Salcombe in Devon and over 18 per cent cheaper to do so in northern city Newcastle upon Tyne.

Much Hadham in East Hertfordshire, Liss in Hampshire and Aldeburgh in Suffolk complete the UK's top five rental hotspots.