Tenants face unaffordable rents that cost them more than a third of their income in every UK region except for the North East, as demand for rental homes continues to outpace supply.
London’s renters are facing the most pressure when it comes to paying for private housing. They spend 57% of their gross monthly salary to afford the average private rented home, which cost tenants £2,119 per month in Q3.
A rental property is defined as affordable by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) if the average rent is 30% or less of the average income of privately renting households in the region.
Renters in the South East and East of England were the next worse off, parting with 44% and 43% of their salaries respectively.
Only tenants in the North East – who pay an average of £750 per month, which represents 29% of their monthly salary before tax – were found to live in affordable rented homes.
The findings follow a survey from Scottish Widows that found that 35% of private renters in the UK would run out of savings in 10 weeks if they were unable to work due to injury or illness.
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Homes to rent at record low
Data from analytics company TwentyCi highlights the impact of a shortage of available homes to rent when demand remains high.
Available properties to rent are at their lowest level since the firm began recording data 15 years ago.
In September 2019, there were 332,000 homes available to rent. This has fallen by 22% to 259,000 for the whole of the UK.
The shortage of rental properties has been exacerbated by the continued departure of many landlords from the market due to tax and regulatory changes.
In Q3 2024, 11.3% of all new properties for sale were former private rental properties within the last three years. Last year, 6.8% of new for-sale properties were former rentals in the prior three years.
Colin Bradshaw, chief executive of TwentyCi, said: “The ongoing shortage of rental properties in comparison with the surge in demand continues to drive rents upwards.
“Nowhere in the UK has this change been more evident than in Inner London, where, in Q3 2024, 47.2% of all new for-sale properties were also rented in the three years prior. It appears landlords have had enough and are selling up.”
