Rental affordability – an analysis

rpwills

Oct 29, 20242 min read

The Office for National Statistics has released data on private rents and rental affordability. Private rent prices are expressed as a share of gross monthly income for private renting households.

The headline figures are set out below.

Main points

Private renters on a median household income could expect to spend 34.2% of their income on a median priced rented home in England, compared with 27.2% in Wales, in financial year ending (FYE) March 2023.

Despite private rents increasing since 2015, and at a faster rate since 2022, incomes of private-renting households in England and Wales have increased at a faster rate, leaving affordability at a broadly similar level in FYE 2023 compared with 2015.

In London, average rents have been between 57.2% and 39.8% of incomes since 2015, while in other regions they have remained above 20% but rarely exceeded 35%.

For the first time, we are able to estimate private-rental affordability at the local authority (LA) level, showing the most affordable rent in FYE 2023 was in North Lincolnshire (18.8% of median income), while the least affordable was in Kensington and Chelsea (52.2% of median income).

Out of 334 LAs in England and Wales, 233 LAs (69.8%) had a median rent that was affordable (below 30% of income) in FYE 2023, the highest number since this data series began in 2015.

The LAs with the least "affordable" median rents in each region in 2023 were those in urban centres such as London, Manchester, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, and Bath.

[ONS, 2024].

For full details including the methodology go to the ONS website.

Cornwall

In Cornwall, the figures show that households could expect to spend 26.0% of their income on rent. This is a lower figure than the average for the south west and for England as a whole.

Area	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23
England	38.6	39.9	39.6	39.1	37.4	35.7	38.1	36.5	34.2
South West	34.1	32.6	30.4	34.6	34.3	31.4	31.8	35.3	28.6
Cornwall	33.2	31.4	28.0	32.2	32.3	29.5	29.2	32.0	26.0

How does Cornwall compare to other local authority areas in South West England?

Generally urban areas in the more prosperous parts such as Bristol see people having to spend more on rents than in rural areas or cities such as Plymouth. Interestingly Cornwall has a higher figure than most rural areas. Figures for districts in Devon with the exception of South Hams and those in Somerset are somewhat lower. Is the difference a reflection of competition with holiday lets or coincidence? More research would be needed to determine the factors involved.

LA name	2022/23
Bristol, City of	41.2
Bath and North East Somerset	38.7
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	31.5
Exeter	30.6
South Gloucestershire	30.5
Cotswold	27.6
Cheltenham	26.7
Dorset	26.4
South Hams	26.1
Cornwall	26.0
North Somerset	25.8
Teignbridge	24.7
Gloucester	24.4
Torbay	24.3
Mendip	23.8
Wiltshire	23.7
East Devon	23.3
Somerset West and Taunton	23.2
Plymouth	22.9
South Somerset	22.9
Sedgemoor	22.9
Stroud	22.8
North Devon	22.4
Swindon	22.2
Mid Devon	22.0
Tewkesbury	21.9
Torridge	21.2
West Devon	21.2
Forest of Dean	19.7

Rental affordability – an analysis

The Office for National Statistics has released data on private rents and rental affordability. Private rent prices are expressed as a share of gross monthly income for private renting households.

The headline figures are set out below.

Main points

Private renters on a median household income could expect to spend 34.2% of their income on a median priced rented home in England, compared with 27.2% in Wales, in financial year ending (FYE) March 2023.

Despite private rents increasing since 2015, and at a faster rate since 2022, incomes of private-renting households in England and Wales have increased at a faster rate, leaving affordability at a broadly similar level in FYE 2023 compared with 2015.

In London, average rents have been between 57.2% and 39.8% of incomes since 2015, while in other regions they have remained above 20% but rarely exceeded 35%.

For the first time, we are able to estimate private-rental affordability at the local authority (LA) level, showing the most affordable rent in FYE 2023 was in North Lincolnshire (18.8% of median income), while the least affordable was in Kensington and Chelsea (52.2% of median income).

Out of 334 LAs in England and Wales, 233 LAs (69.8%) had a median rent that was affordable (below 30% of income) in FYE 2023, the highest number since this data series began in 2015.

The LAs with the least "affordable" median rents in each region in 2023 were those in urban centres such as London, Manchester, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, and Bath.

[ONS, 2024].

For full details including the methodology go to the ONS website.

Cornwall

In Cornwall, the figures show that households could expect to spend 26.0% of their income on rent. This is a lower figure than the average for the south west and for England as a whole.

Area

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

England

38.6

39.9

39.6

39.1

37.4

35.7

38.1

36.5

34.2

South West

34.1

32.6

30.4

34.6

34.3

31.4

31.8

35.3

28.6

Cornwall

33.2

31.4

28.0

32.2

32.3

29.5

29.2

32.0

26.0

How does Cornwall compare to other local authority areas in South West England?

LA name

2022/23

Bristol, City of

41.2

Bath and North East Somerset

38.7

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

31.5

Exeter

30.6

South Gloucestershire

30.5

Cotswold

27.6

Cheltenham

26.7

Dorset

26.4

South Hams

26.1

Cornwall

26.0

North Somerset

25.8

Teignbridge