Families now spend half their income on rent
A rental index compiled by FindaProperty.com has found the average rent has risen to £890 a month – 46 per cent of the typical tenant’s net income, with average monthly rents rose by 1.6 per cent in September. Campbell Robb (Chief Executive, Shelter) responds: “We have become depressingly familiar with first-time buyers being priced out of the housing market, but the impact of unaffordable rents is more dramatic. With no cheaper alternative, ordinary people are forced to cut their spending on essentials like food and heating, or uproot and move away from jobs, schools and families.”
This article make me think of the minimum income standard for rural households work undertaken byL oughborough Universityin 2010 which found:
- People in rural areas typically need to spend 10–20 per cent more on everyday requirements than those in urban areas. The more remote the area, the greater these additional costs.
- Single, working-age adults need to earn at least £15,600 a year in rural towns, £17,900 in villages and £18,600 in hamlets or remote countryside to reach a minimum living standard, compared with £14,400 in urban areas.