Rate of inflation on private rents in London 7% in 2011, double of inflation on the average London wage
March 28, 2012 Leave a comment
Renting a two-bedroom home in London is unaffordable for families earning less than £52,000, Shelter has revealed today.
Almost one in four London families now rents from a private landlord – an increase of 70 per cent in the past two years.
Rent Watch London, part of Shelter’s Homes for London campaign, looks at how much families would need to earn to be able to affordably rent a typical two-bedroom home.
It found that a family would need to take home almost £3,500 each month, equivalent to a yearly pre-tax salary of £52,000. In eight London boroughs, including Hackney and Tower Hamlets, families would need to earn more than £60,000 a year.
The rate of inflation on private rents in London was seven per cent in 2011, almost double the rate of inflation on the average London wage, indicating that family budgets are set to be squeezed even further as rent rises consistently outstrip inflation.
With the typical London household income less than £35,000, Shelter is warning that growing numbers of families are at crisis point, paying up to half of their income in rent each month as they struggle to continue living and working in the capital.
