Cost of renting outstripping wage increases in Northamptonshire, figures show

Average rent costs are rising far quicker than salaries in Northamptonshire

Data from Shelter shows that rental rates across England have increased significantly more than household incomes since 2011, with the housing charity calling on the Government to build more affordable homes to meet the growing need for reasonable rents.

While traditionally seen as a London concern, in recent years the so-called ‘rentquake’ has started to spread from the capital to towns and cities across the country.

In Northampton, the average rental cost of a two-bedroom home increased 24% between 2011 and 2017 – outpacing the growth in household income, which rose by 20%.

In Kettering, average rents rose by 24% and salaries by 10% - in Corby the figures were 27% and 21% respectively, and in Wellingborough 28% and 11%.

The picture was even more grim in Daventry, where rents increased by 26% and average salaries fell slightly by 4%.

In the 2017-18 financial year, the average monthly rent of a two-bedroom home in Northampton cost £697 and £598 in Kettering.

Shelter has called on the Government to come up with a new plan for social housing, to ensure that people on low income jobs can find somewhere affordable to rent and reduce the competition in the private rented sector.

Greg Beales, the campaign director at Shelter, said: “With this surge in private renters the housing market has shifted massively and yet as a country we’ve failed to respond.

“This has resulted in consecutive governments focusing on better-off home owners while not doing enough for hard-pressed renters.

“We need politicians of all parties to sit up and take notice of the rising numbers of renters, and ensure they’re doing all they can to protect them.”

The situation was most pronounced in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, where rental prices increased by 42%. The average salary, meanwhile, was up by just 2%.

Rental prices have become a more significant concern in recent years, as the number of households renting from private owners has risen by 74% in the last decade.

Of the estimated 23.1 million households in England in 2016-17, the private rented sector accounted for 4.7 million, or 20%, of households.

Across England, the proportion of household income spent on rent by private renters has also increased, and according to the most recent figures stands at 41%. By comparison, mortgaged households spend on average 19% of income on housing.