20-something tenants ‘face spending third of income renting a single room’

Tenants aged in their 20s face spending around a third of their pre-tax incomes on private rent typically, according to analysis.

Across Britain generally, the average 21-to-29-year-old now spends 34% of their pre-tax income on the typical £566 cost of renting a room in a house share.

This percentage is an improvement compared with 39% on average in 2017, Hamptons International found.

Stronger income growth has meant that tenants aged in their 20s are typically spending less on rent than before, it said.

Its analysis of 20 major cities also found that Brighton is the least affordable city to rent a room, with room rents accounting for 35% of a 20-something tenant’s income.

London was in second place, where room rents account for 34% of a 21-to-29-year-old’s income, followed by Glasgow (33%).

Sheffield was identified as the most affordable city on the list to rent a room, with room rents accounting for 25% of a tenant’s income on average.

The research also suggests that tenants wanting to find a home on their own face paying 31% more on average to rent a one-bedroom home rather than renting a room in a house share.

This would take up nearly half (47%) of the average 21 to 29-year-old’s pre-tax income across Britain.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said: “Tenants in their 20s spend a third of their pre-tax income on room rents in Great Britain.

“Yet the cost of trading up to rent a one-bed would take up nearly half of their earnings.

“With its large student population putting pressure on rental accommodation, Brighton is the most unaffordable city to rent a room in Great Britain. London follows in second place.”

Hamptons International used its own figures and Office for National Statistics (ONS) data to make the findings.

The percentages of pre-tax income taken up by renting were found to be lower in many cities than the average across Britain generally, of 34%.

Hamptons said reasons for this could include tenants in larger cities often having higher incomes, and so the proportion of their income taken up by rent is lower.

Here are the average percentages of pre-tax income spent by 21-to-29-year-olds on room rents in 20 cities, with the average rent per month, the year-on-year change in the average rent and the percentage of pre-tax income taken up by rent, according to Hamptons International:

1. Brighton, £647, 1.4%, 35%
2. London, £728, 2.3%, 34%
3. Glasgow, £558, 6.9%, 33%
4. Leicester, £437, 4.8%, 32%
=5. Manchester, £491, 2.6%, 31%
=5. Nottingham, £436, minus 3.1%, 31%
=5. Bristol, £543, 3.8%, 31%
8. Edinburgh, £563, minus 1.8%, 30%
=9. Aberdeen, £528, minus 0.8%, 29%
=9. Cardiff, £516, minus 7.3%, 29%
=11. Southampton, £459, minus 2.1%, 28%
=11. Oxford, £577, minus 0.5%, 28%
=11. Portsmouth, £467, 7.0%, 28%
=11. Cambridge, £564, 2.0%, 28%
15. Leeds, £459, 0.5%, 27%
=16. Bournemouth, £473, minus 1.2%, 26%
=16. Birmingham, £438, minus 0.4%, 26%
=16. Newcastle, £418, 0.4%, 26%
=19. Liverpool, £406, minus 6.5%, 25%
=19. Sheffield, £420, minus 6.0%, 25%