It has become cheaper to rent a home in Britain than to buy, following a sharp rise in mortgage rates since the war in Iran , new figures show. The cost of a typical new mortgage payment has overtaken the average rent for the first time since June last year, according to analysis by Rightmove . It found the average advertised monthly rent across Britain is currently £1,547. This was £123 lower than the average new monthly mortgage payment of £1,670. Rightmove’s mortgage figure is based on the current average asking price for a home of £373,971 and the average two-year fixed rate in April so far. It also assumes a buyer has a 20% deposit and a 30-year term to pay off their mortgage. The shift has been driven by borrowing costs moving higher since the beginning of March, when conflict escalated in the Middle East. This led to swap rates, which are used by lenders to price mortgages, to rise amid volatility in the financial markets, prompting lenders to pull a swathe of mortgage deals from the market.…