Renters struggle with renting budgets as costs soar

Renters are having to find an extra £312 per year to cover the cost of rent that exceeds their budget, according to a new survey.

Research by SpareRoom shows a big gap between what renters plan to spend on rent each month and what they actually end up paying.

Across 216 towns and cities in the UK, 71% of renters are paying more than they budgeted for.

Tenants going over their set budget

Of 216 towns and cities analysed around the UK, renters in only 63 areas pay rent that falls within their allocated budget, whilst tenants in 153 areas go over their set budget every single month to be able to afford their rent.

The greatest disparity between budgeted and actual rental costs was found in London. In West Central London, renters are spending £344 more per month than they had budgeted, followed by East Central London, where renters are exceeding their budget by £245 each month.

Bolting the stable door after the horse has long gone

Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, said: “We tend to look to average rents to see how the market is performing, but that only tells half the story. It doesn’t tell us how genuinely affordable those rents are.

“This data reveals that in a staggering 71% of towns and cities around the UK, rent has increased to the extent that prices are higher than renters’ budgets. That means renters are being ever more squeezed, at a time when the cost of living is hard enough already.

“That’s why, although rent caps are a good idea in principle, they’re really a case of bolting the stable door after the horse has long gone. We need renting to be genuinely affordable, otherwise people end up trapped and unwilling to move. The knock-on effect for the economy of having an inflexible, rent-burdened workforce will be huge.”

Edinburgh sees tenants paying £145 over ideal budget

Outside of London, Edinburgh sees tenants paying £145 over their ideal budget, with renters going £122 over in Great Yarmouth and £121 in Kirkcaldy.

Looking at the other end of the scale, people living in Dewsbury spend £75 less than budgeted on rent every month, followed by Newtownabbey (£65), Livingston (£62) and Littlehampton (£59).

Liverpool (£525), Preston (£496), Leamington Spa (£629) and Blackburn (£498) are the only towns and cities in the UK where the budget set aside for rent every month is exactly the same as the rental costs themselves.

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