'Unaffordable' rents well over a third of income

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ONS - Private rental affordability in england

Alongside London and Brighton, renting in the city is becoming less affordable, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Typical private tenants in the city spent 44.6 percent of their income on rent in 2024, which is well above the 30 per cent deemed "affordable"

Bristol and Bath are now both among the top 20 least affordable local

To show the affordability of private renting the ONS calculated what proportion of monthly income the monthly rent was equivalent to.

Affordability was then based on whether an area with private renting was equivalent to 30% or less of the median income of private renting households.

According to the figures, 2018 saw the highest costs to renters in Bristol at 46.9% of household income.

The number has consistently remained above 30% since 2016.

The ONS said factors such as having a university - Bristol has two - or commuter routes to a larger city can help drive up rent prices.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance for Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown, said landlords are continuing to sell up as they are "concerned about higher costs from more regulation and more tax".

"It means more tenants chasing dwindling numbers of properties, so rents are continuing to rise," she said.

"At the same time, although wages have risen impressively, they have been consistently outpaced

The ONS said Bath and North East Somerset also had some of the least "affordable" rents outside London, with average rent costs in 2024 at 42.7% of household incomes.

This is a rise since 2023, where the figure stood at 37.8%, but the figure has generally been above 40% since 2016.

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