Households in the private rented sector in England have the highest housing costs, particularly in London and spend more on housing costs than owners, a new analysis shows.
English Housing Survey affordability report published by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) shows that in the financial year 2015/2016, the average rent in the sector was £184 per week.
But for those renting in London the average was £300 per week, almost twice the average outside London which was £153. This compares with an average weekly mortgage payment of £159.
The average weekly rent for social renters was also lower at £106 for housing association renters and £95 for local authority renters.
Overall the report shows that in London it was, on average, cheaper to have a mortgage than to rent in the private sector but elsewhere average private rents were much the same as weekly mortgage repayments.
On average, those buying their home with a mortgage spent 18% of their household income on mortgage payments whereas rent payments were 28% of household income for social renters and 35% of household income for private renters.
Irrespective of tenure, households in London spend a greater proportion of their income on housing costs than households in the rest of England. The proportion of household income spent on mortgage payments was higher in London at 22% compared with17% outside London.
Private renters in London spent 45% of their household income on rent payments compared with 32% outside London. Social renters in London spent 32% of their household income on rent payments whereas outside London this was 27%.
The proportion of income spent on housing costs reduced significantly for households with independent children when all household income was taken into account. This was true across all tenure types.
The research report also shows that lone parents with independent children spent 26% of their income on mortgage payments however it reduced to 16% for all household income. For couples with independent children this reduced from 15% to 12% when the all household income measure is used.
In the private rented sector couples with independent children spent 34% of their income on rent payments which reduced to 24% on the all household income measure. For lone parents with independent children the proportion reduced from 58% to 44%.
A quarter of social renters were either currently in arrears or had been in the last 12 months. This was higher than the proportion of private renters who were either currently in arrears or had been in the last 12 months.
Some 26% of local authority renters and 25% of housing association renters were either currently in arrears or had been in the last 12 months. This was higher than the proportion of private renters at 9% who were either currently in arrears or had been in the last 12 months.
The most common reasons for arrears that renters gave were other debts or responsibilities for 26% while 21% said it was unemployment.
