Nimbys beware: there's just one way to stop rent rises

Britain is suffering from a housing crisis and the PM must act by building affordable homes where many won’t like them

- JAMES MOORE

Despite the efforts of successive governments, the dream of home ownership has grown more and more out of reach for years.

Now, though, it appears that simply being able to afford a roof over your head is becoming a luxury, with the latest figures from property website Rightmove showing that the average cost of renting a home outside London has surged to £1,314 per calendar month.

To put that figure in context: the average wage now stands at just below £36,000. The latest official figures put the average rise at 5.7 per cent against inflation of 2 per cent. However, the above figure for average rents, covering the second quarter of the year from property website Rightmove, is up nearly 7 per cent compared with a year earlier. Rents in London are rising more slowly, at 3.7 per cent, but the average rental property in the capital will now set you back a staggering £2,661 – twice that of the rest of the UK.

The members of Generation Rent are being brutally squeezed wherever they hang their hats. True, the pace of increase has slowed a bit – the annual rises were 8.5 per cent outside London and 5.3 per cent in the capital during the first quarter of this year – but that doesn’t offer much comfort to those trying to navigate these treacherous waters.