Living in London it comes with the acceptance that you will spend about half of your hard-earned salary rent.

Many of us dream of a time when it was more affordable to live in the capital and we did not fear the landlord’s email announcing a monthly increase.

But while the slog continues for many renters, new statistics suggest that somehow it has More affordable to rent in London over the past decade. Yes, we are just as incredulous as you.

According to new figures from the National Statistics Office (ONS), between 2022 and 2023, private renters in the capital spent 39.8% of their gross income on rent alone.

That might sound like a lot, but it actually marks a drop from the 41.8% people were paying between 2021 and 2022. It’s also technically more affordable than the period between 2014 and 2015.

Wondering how rent could be more affordable when it’s still on the rise? It’s all about how our wages have risen in line with these rental prices — so because wages have risen (which they say have) enough, the difference between earnings and rent has technically become more manageable.

This trend continues in the UK, with private renting households also spending a lower proportion of wages on living costs.

Despite this, the wider picture for London’s property market remains bleak. According to the numbers from Zooplathe average rent comes in at around £2,100 a month – the highest of any region in the UK – marking an annual increase of 6.2%.

Likewise, recent data from Spare room finds that rents in London have skyrocketed by an average of 32% over the past five years, from £744 to £983 a month.

However, the ordinary Londoner he takes home £41,866 a year – significantly higher than the typical UK salary of £33,000.

Looking at postcodes across the city, the biggest increases were seen in locations in the east and south-east, with the most significant being in SE2 (comprising parts of Greenwich and Bexley, including Abbey Wood). Here, monthly averages rose from £531 to £820.

Other postcodes of note include EC2 (Shoreditch and Liverpool Street, up 53.4%), N9 (Edmonton and Enfield up 49.7%) and SE9 (parts of Greenwich, Bromley, Bexley and Lewisham up 49.6 %).

However, these statistics are averages – and there are plenty of people still paying over the odds just for the four (rented) walls.

In August 2022, a reddit thread asked Londoners what percentage of their monthly salary they spend on rent. Shockingly, many were spending even more than 50%.

“After taxes and including bills it’s around 65%. It’s quite big, but I live alone in a studio apartment close to work and I don’t want to go back to renting a room in an apartment in zone 4,” wrote @wutetka.

Meanwhile, @_perpetually_curious said they pay around 70%, including bills “to live in zone 2 in a three-bed flat”. You have

For @pepe_za, the figure (including rent, common tax and utilities) was 67.5%.

Elsewhere, others took the time to reminisce about what they used to pay in the past.

When @Hot_Photograph_5928 they first moved to London in 1994, shared a three-bedroom house with one other person and paid £200 a month, including council tax.

“The first (post graduate) salary was £17,850,” they added. – Things were different.

Almost 20 years later, in 2013, @Western_Discount6044 was paying £650 including bills for a bathroom in Norwood, south London. By 2014, their rent had risen to £1,120 – excluding bills – for a one-bedroom flat in the Isle of Dogs.

If only we could all have idyllic 1990s rent prices on a 2024 salary, hey?

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