Rents have soared 60 per cent faster than wages for struggling Brits over last seven years
New research by the charity Shelter has revealed rent in some crunch areas has almost doubled since 2011
RENTS have soared 60% faster than wages for struggling Brits over the last seven years, deepening Britain’s chronic housing crisis.
New research by the charity Shelter has revealed rent in some crunch areas has almost doubled since 2011.
At the same time, average pay after inflation has largely flatlined – leaving millions out of pocket every month.
And the problem is now spreading from expensive London to other cities like Cambridge, Bristol and Birmingham.
Shelter blamed the “rentquake” on consecutive governments failing to build enough affordable homes to keep up with the hiked demand from a soaring population.
Greg Beales, campaign director at Shelter, said: “With this surge in private renters the housing market has shifted massively and yet as a country we’ve failed to respond.
“We need politicians of all parties to sit up and take notice of the rising numbers of renters, and ensure they’re doing all they can to protect them.”
Rent has soared the most in outer London boroughs, rocketing by 42% in Barking and Dagenham and 40% in Dartford between 2011 – 2017.
Over the same period, wages have gone up in both by 2% and 6%. Private renters make up 4.7million of households, or one in five.
The group now spend over £350 a month more on housing costs than mortgaged households, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found – or 41% of all their income on average.
By comparison, mortgaged households pay 19% of all earnings.
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Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey added: “Conservative Ministers are failing private renters right across the country.
“One in four families with children now rent from a private landlord yet for many renting is insecure and increasingly unaffordable.”
