Ever increasing rents in London
Labour’s London Assembly housing spokesperson Tom Copley AM has warned that the average rent for a two-bed home in the capital will hit £2,007 a month by January 2020 if rents continue to rise at their current pace, such a rent would mean a single earner in the household would have to earn almost £120,000 a year to afford it. The median London income is currently £35,069.
New analysis of Valuation Office Agency data by Tom Copley AM has found that the average private rent for a 2-bed home grew by 0.42% a month between November 2004 to March 2015. That means that the average rent for a 2-bed London home in 2015 is now £7,700 a year more than in November 2004.
Modelling, based on the average rate of rent inflation over the past 11 years found that if the rate of rent growth continues, the average 2-bed private rent in London will hit £2,007 a month in January 2020 with a one bed property hitting £2,010 by 2025.
Average private rents for three and four bedroom homes in London have already broken the £2,000 barrier but if the trend continues, by 2025 a privately rented three-bed home in the capital would cost £3,531 a month, with four bed properties on average costing £5,606.
Tom Copley said the next mayor should look at steps to limit rent rises in the capital saying: “there’s no way that rents consistently rising faster than wages is sustainable in the long term.
“These figures show just how broken the London rental market has become. We desperately need to call time on ever increasing rents, which are driving many people into poverty or out of the capital altogether.
“There’s no way that rents consistently rising faster than wages is sustainable in the long term.
“Most other western economies exercise some form of regulation over rent increases, many of which have much larger and better functioning private rented sectors than we do in London. With the number of private renters in the capital due to overtake the number of home owners, it’s about time the capital followed suit and gave private tenants the security and certainty that they deserve.
“The next Mayor of London has a mammoth task to get London’s housing market under control. What’s clear is that Boris Johnson’s soft touch approach to housing has seen rents rocket and standards deteriorate, pricing many low and middle income people out of the capital.”
Content from report 20 Nov 2015 by Tom Copley AM, Labour London Assembly Member http://tomcopley.com/average-london-rents-hit-2000-month-start-decade/
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