Homeowners - could you afford to rent on your street?

[MidnightPatrol]

Worth a quick Google to find out how much it costs to rent on your street in 2024, as prices have shot up!

I only bought my house 3 years ago. Rental prices have gone up by about 50% (!) since then. There’s absolutely no way I could afford to rent here.

How on earth are people supposed to afford to rent their own properties (ie not sharing).

Well one thing is crystal clear

There's an urgent need for a massive social housing build across the country.

It's not only morally right, it would save the economy loads of money.

Health, poverty, and housing are interlinked. So more social housing would significantly reduce the welfare benefits and NHS costs.

So whoever's next in government should take note of that, given they're all saying they want to help the economy.

Having had no idea of rents in my town, I looked up similar properties to ours, end terrace, 5 bedrooms, nice area, and was shocked to see they ranged from £1809 to £2500! This is in West Yorkshire. I'm used to high rents down south, a friend in London pays £3k and my daughter's shared student house in Bristol was £3.5k in 2018, but I was really surprised at the prices. The last time we rented was nearly thirty years ago when we had sold one house but had not yet found another, and I think that was around £350 for a two bedroomed terrace in a nice village!

I'm not sure what the purpose of this thread is, there is no doubt that in many parts of the country, housing costs are extortionate both for renters and owner occupiers. There is no point trying to compare costs between the two groups though as it doesn't take account of the additional costs associated with owner occupying - deposits, mortgage fees, solicitors fees, stamp duty, house insurance, repairs etc. I've just been quoted £2300 to replace one slipped roof tile !!
It really does need sorting out for everyone, more social housing would be a good start.

The purpose of this thread, I don't know the OP's reasons but it's certainly been eye-opening for me and many other posters.

It's highlighted the urgent need for more social housing.

And related to that, it's highlighted just why the welfare benefits bill is so high. Not only because of benefits needed to afford high private rents, but also because housing is heavily linked to health. Substandard, unaffordable, or insecure housing costs the NHS loads.

I read the article below a while back, which also shocked me.

Some people might read it and think "great, solves issue of 'burden of ageing population"...
Except, awful sentiment aside, it actually means more people in poorer health and unable to work (at younger ages than had they owned or had social housing).

The impact of renting in the private sector, as opposed to outright ownership (with no mortgage), was almost double that of being out of work rather than being employed. It was also 50% greater than having been a former smoker as opposed to never having smoked.

Note:

Living in social housing, however, with its lower cost and greater security of tenure, was no different than outright ownership

https://bmjgroup.com/renting-rather-than-owning-a-private-sector-home-linked-to-faster-biological-ageing/

You're right though @Sluj Housing costs are also increasingly extortionate for owners too.

@Sluj 😱

@worryworrysuperscurry I often wonder how students nowadays afford rent as student lets seem to be priced higher? So people with kids at uni: is it a mixture of loans, work and parental help?

I think houses to rent in our area would be about 800 for 3 bed detached

So yes we could afford it but shelling out 800 extra a month wouldn't be pleasant!

Nope. Which is why we bought. House across the road is up for USD4.5k and our other neighbour that rents is USD3.5k. It’s nuts!

@CalicoPusscat Yes, it's a combination of loan, working and parental contribution. It's getting to the point where students are priced out of going to uni though.