The renters of England have handed over, since 2010, the equivalent of a fifth of the average price that one can expect to pay for an affordable house.
According to the research of housing charity Shelter, renting a two bedroom property in England would cost on average £41,196 in the five years following 2010. This is equivalent to a 19 per cent deposit on an average first time buyer home of £216,528.
In London, the prices are even more extreme. A renter, for the same period of time, can be expected to pay £89,269. This would be the equivalent of a 23 per cent deposit of a first time buyer’s choice in London, a property of an average £394,905.
Shelter used data from the land registry office and the valuation Office Agency. It used the figures to highlight how many people in the UK are caught in a “rent trap” which prevents them from getting out of rented accommodation and onto the housing ladder.
Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Rob, said “When just five years of rent could get you the deposit on a house, it’s no wonder England’s renters feel like they’re getting a raw deal, paying through the nose for something they can never call their own … Our drastic shortage of affordable homes is leaving millions of people stuck in their childhood bedrooms in a bid to save money.”
The Help to Buy schemes are very good at helping on an individual basis, but so far, the effects that they have had on the market at large has by no means been enough to make it more accessible for all first time buyers.
