Average Rent Now £1000pcm & Rising

neverdespairgirl

We do pay £1k a month in rent, but we are living in a 3 bed flat in WC1, central London, and we are paying quite a lot under market value, I think, we've lived here for 10.5 years now.

It's dead easy in this neck of the woods to spend £4k on rent per month, if you go for the "prestige" new BTL developments. The problem the LLs are having, according to property bee, is that people aren't going for them in high enough numbers (-:

(1) http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-10133556.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent

Nice house, but new conversion, costs a small fortune (£1.3k per *week*) and been on the market for 2 months (min)

(2) http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-10133553.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent

Also nice, new conversion, £1.4k per week, also been on 2 months or more

(3) And just look at this for a BTL-er cacking himself,:rotfl:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-18676139.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=rent

These flats were on the market massively overpriced, converted from a few Georgian terraces knocked together.

Property Bee has to say the following:

4th May 2008

• Price changed: from '£1,250 pw' to '£875 pw'

20th Mar 2008

• Price changed: from '£1,500 pw' to '£1,250 pw'

29th Feb 2008

• Initial entry found.

ooops! These flats were on the market for roughly £1.3 million or something similarly stupid last year.

(4) To give an example of how overpriced all the new flats above are:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-19971233.rsp?pa_n=6&tr_t=rent

3 bedrooms, with a large garden, for £550 a week. Still a lot, but more space, outdoor space, and a fraction of what you could pay higher up the list. In a Georgian terrace, too, which makes it more than the modern flats around here.

obsessed_saver

People in London must be making so much more money than I am.

Snooze

Crash pads in Citispace in Leeds are still tumbling in price, just as I predicted a few months ago. Back in January they were wanting £550-575 pcm for them. A few weeks ago they were down to £395 pcm. Saw ads outside the place today for £375 pcm.

And I bet that still nobody is interested.

Rob

Alleycat

We're now paying £1225 per month in West London for a two bed 1st floor flat (we do have our own garden though!). OH net wage is just over £1600 per month. We would still unlikely qualify for LHA so I work full time and bring in a little bit more than OH wage so we can afford it just. Have to pay out for childcare though which takes a fair bit of cash each month. We just about break even with £100-200 spare each month for emergencies (no money in our budget for holidays).

barnaby-bear

obsessed_saver wrote: »

I'm living in Cambridge too. I'm earning £37k and I can't bring myself to pay that much in rent (for a 1 or 2 bed place). Currently £340 per month all in for a huge room. No council tax, no bills, no repair hassles, someone even cleans the house!

I don't know how people can spend £1000+ on rent. Yes, I'm just tight.

I think that's the key though - a lot of people are saying how can people pay £1k on one or two salaries. When in high demand areas like London and Cambridge with a high proportion of private rental you'll often get 5 people in a house all earning all paying £400 a room, or two couples sharing a 2-bed each paying £500. So the numbers of earners supporting the rent is often higher than one/two salaries. The shared house/lodge thing is great for those in their twenties but when you get a wife and have a baby I imagine it'll get harder to find a house share and that one room won't seem so big - hence people move out to Ely/St. Ives and a town like Cam. gets a weird demographic with only the rich and the very poor having kids (very high child poverty rate) and all these people commuting in.
The family houses for rent seem to be soaring at the moment £1500k+ for 3 beds in a reasonable school area and I'm convinced it's people who can't sell their houses looking for short term rentals.

obsessed_saver

Alleycat wrote: »

We're now paying £1225 per month in West London for a two bed 1st floor flat (we do have our own garden though!). OH net wage is just over £1600 per month. We would still unlikely qualify for LHA so I work full time and bring in a little bit more than OH wage so we can afford it just. Have to pay out for childcare though which takes a fair bit of cash each month. We just about break even with £100-200 spare each month for emergencies (no money in our budget for holidays).

That's a really tough situation! And sounds quite fragile too. If some bill or other goes up, it could suddenly put you in trouble if you've only got £100-£200 to spare.

barnaby-bear

obsessed_saver wrote: »

That's a really tough situation! And sounds quite fragile too. If some bill or other goes up, it could suddenly put you in trouble if you've only got £100-£200 to spare.

But what is the alternative - they'll never register on any criteria for 'affordable' housing; give up their jobs, family and community links and move to the north east? Move into a 1-bed with their kid? Move to a really dangerous cheap area?

obsessed_saver

barnaby-bear wrote: »

When in high demand areas like London and Cambridge with a high proportion of private rental you'll often get 5 people in a house all earning all paying £400 a room, or two couples sharing a 2-bed each paying £500. So the numbers of earners supporting the rent is often higher than one/two salaries.

Landlords who split up a house and rent out rooms will always get a higher rental income, but it also comes with the risk of having one or two rooms empty for various times of the year as people move in/out.

Rents for a whole house/flat are cheaper if you it whole rather than separate rooms in the same area. Finding someone suitable to share a place to rent is tricky though. :rolleyes:

Yes, when people get married and settled down, they tend to move out to the villages. But then they've entered a different phase of their lives and probably don't need to go into town for evenings out that much anymore (I think).

barnaby-bear

obsessed_saver wrote: »

Yes, when people get married and settled down, they tend to move out to the villages. But then they've entered a different phase of their lives and probably don't need to go into town for evenings out that much anymore (I think).

I think it's the going into the town for *work* commuting problem.

LLs generally don't take on the renting out rooms separately issue jsut rent it out on a joint and severable basis and let the tenants worry about voids...

obsessed_saver

barnaby-bear wrote: »

But what is the alternative - they'll never register on any criteria for 'affordable' housing; give up their jobs, family and community links and move to the north east? Move into a 1-bed with their kid? Move to a really dangerous cheap area?

Yeah, I don't know what alternatives there are. Changing jobs? Usually you can negotiate a significant pay increase when you switch jobs.