6 October 2021
Tenants of privately-let homes in London are typically having to spend almost 40% of their income on rent, making it unaffordable to all but the highest earners, official data suggests.
This compares to the rest of England where median-income private tenants can expect to pay around 23%.
Data published today by the Office for National Statistics show that tenants in the capital with a median income would have had to spend 38% of their earnings in order to afford an average-priced rental home in 2020.
In its research, which looked at the period from 2012-2020, the ONS deems that a property is affordable if a household would spend 30% or less of their income on rent.
It found that in London, only households in the highest income quartile would be able to afford a rental property without spending more than 30% of their earnings on rent.
Throughout the whole period the ONS reviewed, median-income households would have needed to spend more than 30% of their earnings on average rents in the capital.
Read more here: https://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/banks/londoners-spending-nearly-40-income-rent-ons-06-10-2021/
