English renters have to work the equivalent of 125 days a year just to pay their landlords, according to research from the Adam Smith Institute (ASI).
The ASI has calculated that the average tenant in England would have to work until 6th May before they could start keeping their earnings.
This is based on earnings accrued before tax. To calculate this, the ASI translated the proportion of income PRS households pay to their landlords into the days of the year.
Resulting in ‘Cost of Rent Days’, these were identified for 10 regions across England and Wales, as well as each local authority in London.
In general, the Cost of Rent Day for London is 27th May, which shows how much longer the average tenant in the capital would need to work.
The earliest Cost of Rent Day, which highlights greater affordability, was in the West Midlands on 4th April.
Wales’s Cost of Rent Day is the 11th April.
According to ASI, this highlights the impact of housing shortages on affordability within the PRS and its chairman James Lawson said these results should not be surprising due to the barriers that frustrate new housing delivery.
“Many of the policies which are being widely touted as solutions, including rent controls, will only make things worse.
“Instead of engaging in more central planning and regulation, we must liberalise our planning system.
“Cost of Rent Day is another damning indictment of Britain’s sclerotic economy.
“The UK has so much potential but, until we fix our broken planning regime, we cannot hope to reverse our ongoing decline.”
