Editorial: ​Worrying data on the cost of renting a home

There is interesting new data on the soaring cost of rent in the UK.

​The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show the huge amounts of income that people who rent their homes are paying in around the nation. In England, those who rent their residence are spending more than a third of their income on the home.

People earning a median salary could expect to spend 36.3% of their income on an average-priced rented home in England in 2024. That is above the 30% threshold that the ONS considers to be affordable, and is an increase on the 33.1% of household income that average renters were paying in 2023.

There is better news in Wales and Northern Ireland, where last year affordability increased in Wales, from 26.3% of an average renter’s income in 2023 to 25.9% in 2024. And in Northern Ireland, rents were flat, with the ratio edging up to 25.3% from 25.1%. London is the least affordable city with average rents of £1,957 per month, or 41.6% of a typical renter’s income.

It is good that in Northern Ireland the percentage of income spent on rent is 11% lower than in England. Even so, a huge proportion of income is spent on rents.

The reasons for this UK-wide problem include people living longer, so that accommodation takes longer to become free than it once did. Immigration is sky high, particularly in the south of England, further adding to the pressures. And house prices are now so high that buying is hard for the young.

One government policy, of pushing up stamp duty for people buying investment properties, might be helping because it means that first time buyers face less competition. But even so, having a generation stuck out of home ownership, trapped paying huge rents, will lead to a whole generation feeling aggrieved, and perhaps turning to radical politicians like Jeremy Corbyn and Sinn Fein for extreme solutions.