A new study reveals that nearly 25% of tenants now have no other choice but to spend half or more of their income on rent. The study also found that 30% of tenants consider their rent bills to be unaffordable.
SpareRoom.co.uk, who conducted the study, also discovered that nearly 20% of tenants never expect to be able to afford their own home. This is double the number recorded in 2011.
A lack of mortgage availability, rising house prices and increasing rents all play a role in the negative sentiment among renters.
According to the latest statistics published by the Land Registry, the average house now costs £178,000 – very close to the record level of 2007. In London this can be as high as £500,000.
A director of SpareRoom.co.uk, Matt Hutchinson, stated: “For nearly one in five of Britain’s ever-growing population of renters, aspirations of home ownership are slipping away.” He also called the increases ‘unstoppable’ and says that first-time buyers are particularly hard hit. Many Britons, he added, would simply have to reconcile themselves with becoming lifetime tenants like their European counterparts.
This might be easier said than done. Britons are used to owning their own homes, and they would do just about anything to make that dream a reality, including emigrating. A recent Santander study found that more than a million people were prepared to emigrate if that would mean being able to own a home. Others were prepared to cut down on new cars and holidays.
Apart from not being able to buy a home, an increasing number of Britons are nowadays slipping into debt, usually harming their credit ratings in the process. Many of those individuals would benefit from professional debt management advice to get their financial affairs back on track if they ever hope to save enough for a deposit on a home.
