to ask if its usual to pay 47% of net income for a private rental?

[lemonade30]

I read this statistic today in my MILs daily mirror and I'm quite willing to believe that its nothing more than propaganda.
It seems like an extortionate percentage when you consider that all bills/groceries/clothing/school meals and trips/holidays/birthdays and Christmas must be paid for by the remaining 53%.

We rent privately and our rental payments are 19.5% of our net income which is manageable.
We'd be living on bread and water if we had to fork out almost half of our income to a landlord. I'm not even employing the slightest element of hyperbole when I say that.

This statistic is supposedly true for those in the 20-39 age bracket, dubbed generation rent by the daily mirror

so over to you.
Are the mirror talking out of their arse or this truly the state of the private rental sector/salary in 2015?

About 39% for me I think? So not quite as bad as your quoted figure but not a million miles away.

We live in London and pay 29% in a naice area.

40 per cent for us in London...

I guess it's true here but I only work part time and have maintenance payments and tax credits on top. If I was working in a full time minimum wage job I'd come out with approximately the same amount but then presumably I woukdnt need to rent a 3 bed house (unless I had children in which case tax credits/ housing benefit would top me up again).

I don't see how it can be true if they take all income into consideration... except in London. That's a housing rule unto itself.

I do think renting's ridiculously expensive compared to a repayment mortgage though.

My rent is exactly half my monthly wages I'm a single parent but work full time so I don't get any help

Yes, if you're in London. Could be an even higher percentage.

I can very easily believe this. Many people pay more. I'm a bit that you don't believe it!

I paid £750 excluding bills for a room in a shared house in London zone 2. I moved out to zone 3 and paid about £700 including bills for a room in a smaller flatshare. That's more or less the going rate - there are some cheaper rooms available around £600 and if you want to live alone then you'll be looking at £1000 bare minimum. That's a big chunk of income even with a professional job.

It's around 48% for us; DP and I are part of 'generation rent' and are having to move back in with my DM to enable us to save enough to put down a deposit on a house - it's not what either of us want to be doing but we have no other choice as so much of our income goes on rent/bills/council tax/food shopping. After everything is paid for, we have about £75 spare a month.

I guess I find it hard to believe as I live nowhere near London.
I'm in the north west where £900 pcm gets you a five bed semi in a desirable post code.

Surely the statistic as a % is meaningless.

53% for 'everything else' is very very different depending if you take home £1,000 or £10,000 per month.

Did it specify if the 47% was a national or London-only figure?

I'm quite surprised at your apparent surprise and disbelief that there is a housing issue in the UK, OP. I'm shocked this is news to anyone. How old are you?

40% for us in the south west.

40% for me if my maths is right (not London).

53% of 28,000 which is approximately the national average salary is £1236 gross.

After deductions I imagine it'd be bloody hard to raise a family on that amount.

apparently its national figure danger.

I'm 30 and nobody that I'm aware of pays so much of their salary in rent.
Most of my friends are middle income professionals in the north west.

DP and I are raising DD on far less than that and she doesn't go without - it's area dependant, and people really don't need as much 'stuff' as we're led to believe.

Yes this is true for us. Our rent is just under 50% of our net income. We are in the South East.

Goodness . Can't believe the % some people have to pay I think we pay something like 23% or thereabouts. Housing in the UK is truly fecked, isn't it?

We paid 40% when we rented a one bed flat in London 10 years ago. I don't find the figure too surprising. I just had a look online and if we wanted to rent a house similar to the one we own (3 bed semi, still in London area but further out) in our area, then it would be at least 50% of our net income now. And our joint income is considerably more now than it was 10 years ago.

That figure is accurate for me. Single parent renting a tiny 2 bed in the South east but not London.

Our joint take home is around £2700 and our rent for a 3 bed semi is £1395 in Oxford.... council tax is around £140, water £45, gas and electricity £80 all a month, parking permit is £60 a year.... Not much left for food, childcare (breakfast club, after school and holiday clubs) plus the usual expenses for a 5 year old, 15 year old and a 20 year old at uni but we earn too much for any help.... generation rent like us are screwed by private landlords..

I live in Scotland and my rent has been between 40-60 % of my income my whole adult life. It's now almost exactly a third but only because I've managed to find a mid market rent property through a housing association. I have a decently paid salaried job by the way.

well I'll happily stand corrected and be astonished at what must be some superior budgeting for those who are paying such ridiculous rents!

We are in central London. About 55% goes on rent.

Well before Tax credits I'd e paying over 100% on my rent. After tax credits it's 56%.

I don't live in London and I have a smallish flat