Rental affordability crisis in London claims website

More evidence of a possible affordability issue in the private rental sector has been produced from a survey of Londoners earning the capital’s ‘living wage’ of £9.15 an hour. 

An analysis by the lodging website Spareroom shows that the average weekly income on the London Living Wage is £292.69 after tax, while the average weekly room rent has risen by six per cent in the past 12 months to £164.31 - resulting in renters spending 56 per cent of their net income.

SpareRoom looked at every postcode district in the capital and found that not one could be classed as affordable to those on the London Living Wage, let alone apprentices who it says earn £2.73 per hour or £102.38 per week.

Even the cheapest postcodes to rent in London - Thamesmead (SE28) where the average room rent is £480 per month, and Edmonton (N9) where rent is £505 per month - are out of reach. On £9.15 per hour, renters would still have to budget 38 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of their net income for accommodation.

Renters whose postcodes start with a W face paying £810 per month - some 14 per cent higher than the average London rent of £712 per month and costs Living Wage earners some 64 per cent of their income.

In east London, the average monthly room rent is £676, which means London Living Wage earners will have to spent 53 per cent of their pay on rent.