Rents are rising four times faster than tenant income, it has been claimed.
According to tenancy referencing firm HomeLet, the average cost of renting a home in the UK rose by 3.3% during the first quarter of 2013 to £776 per month.
In contrast, the average amount a tenant earns per year rose by just 0.8% over the same period, to £27,300.
Although the 3.3% rise is much higher than that of tenant income, the increase in rents appears to have slowed down, says HomeLet.
Its data also shows the percentage of unemployed tenants moving into a new rented home increased over the past 12 months by 6%.
It suggests the reason for this is the lack of social housing.
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Comments
Hear hear Fink!
It also doesn't tell you that the big rent increases are massively skewed to towards the South East and London in particular. I bet the median figures by region show a very different story.
It is because of headlines like this that people should never trust statistics.
I'm hoping my maths are correct, and if so a 3.3% increase in rents to £776 means an annual increase of £297.48 per year, from £751.21 to £776.
A 0.8% increase in income means an increase of income from £27,083.33 to £27,300.
So incomes have increased on average by c. £217 per year and rents by c. £297.48. per year.
Suddenly the "4 times faster" headline is not quite the headline is seemed to be, although the sentiment of rents increasing more than income (averages) has merit.