Rising rents in Leicester outrun increasing wages as average monthly cost hits £899

Rents are rising and salaries are not keeping up
Rents are rising and salaries are not keeping up -Credit:Getty


New figures show how life is becoming increasingly unaffordable for people who rent their homes. The average Leicester rent is now £899 per month, while the average Leicester worker earns a salary of £23,328 after tax and National Insurance.

Rents are, on average, 57.7 per cent higher than in March 2015. And the average pay figure has gone up by less than 23 per cent since 2015.

Meanwhile, rent increases are being matched by soaring prices in supermarkets, rising fuel costs and inflation in insurance and other necessities.

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If every rented home only had one earner, that person would spend 46.2 per cent of their pay on rent in Leicester. While many households are not in that situation, the map below shows how rents and wages would compare around the country in that hypothetical situation, giving an overall affordability score.

In Charnwood the average rent is £815 a month and the average salary £27,400, giving an affordability rate - if all renters were sole earners in their households - of 35.7 per cent. In neighbouring North West Leicestershire the average rent is £780 and the average salary £27,962, giving an affordability figure of 33.5 per cent.

It's a similar picture in Hinckley & Bosworth, where rents are £821 on average and the salary after tax £26,815 on average, giving an affordability rate of 36.7 per cent. Blaby - with average rents £843 and salaries £26,847 - has a rate of 37.7 per cent.

Things are worse in Oadby & Wigston, where the average salary is only £23,973 and the average rent £874, giving it an affordability rating of 43.7 per cent - not far below the Leicester figure.

In Harborough average rents are £851 and salaries £28,069, giving a rate of 36.4 per cent. Finally, in Melton things are most affordable, with average wages £24,902 and average rents below the county average at £645, giving an affordability rating of 31.1 per cent.