Crisis? What Crisis?

Crisis? What Crisis?

Whilst there may be an affordability crisis in relation to the price of housing for sale, there is not the same crisis in relation to rental prices, particularly outside of London. Rents have remained relatively stable in relation to wages in recent years.

Our research shows that many of the data widely used to illustrate rising rents are misconstrued in two key ways. First, the data are often cited on a nominal, not real or wage-adjusted basis. Second, even when wage-adjusted figures are used, some of these statistics purely capture new market-rate tenancies – which only affect about 35% of PRS tenants – and further, these have not been adjusted for the quality or location of the properties being rented. Indeed, it is often exactly when landlords have a vacancy that they choose to refurbish their properties.