Jessica BirdPrivate renters in England are spending more than a third of their household income on rent, despite average earnings rising faster than rents over the long term, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In the financial year ending 2024, private renters on a median household income spent 36.3% of their income on an average-priced rented home, compared with 25.9% in Wales and 25.3% in Northern Ireland.
The figures highlighted that, while wages have grown, rents continue to claim a disproportionate share of household budgets in England.
Since 2016, earnings of private renting households have generally risen faster than rents across all three countries.
But since 2021 the trend has shifted: in England, incomes have continued to grow faster than rents, while in Wales and Northern Ireland rents have outpaced earnings growth, eroding affordability.
The regional picture underlines the imbalance between wages and housing costs. In the North East, where average household incomes are lower than in the South, rents accounted for just 19.8% of income in 2024.
In contrast, London renters paid £1,957 a month on average, representing 41.6% of household income, making it the least affordable region.
At local authority level, two-thirds of councils in England and Wales (68.7%) had average rents at or below the 30% affordability threshold.
Hartlepool was the most affordable area, with rents equating to 15.9% of income, while Kensington and Chelsea remained the least affordable, with rents taking up 74.3% of household income.
The ONS analysis showed that affordability pressures are concentrated in London and commuter towns where rents have risen sharply relative to local earnings.
By contrast, in many regions where wage growth has kept pace with or exceeded rental growth, affordability has been maintained below the 30% threshold.
The figures illustrate how differing patterns in wage and rent growth shape affordability across the UK – with England’s higher average earnings unable to offset the scale of rents in its most expensive markets.
