Am I spending too much on rent?

[sigonomi]

I get that it's a personal decision, but would you say this is being profligate? Combined take home is 6,600 and our rent for a one bedroom, unfurnished flat is 2,050 per month. We live in (central) London, both mid 20s and no kids, young professionals.

I would.thimk it's market rate

That sounds about right for central London

You might be interested in this article on the BBC website that's appeared today:

Renters compete with 20 others in battle to find a home - BBC News

Do you need to live in Central London? If, say, you both WFH and like walking in the hills at the weekend, it's probably a waste to live where you do, especially if you're supposedly saving to buy.

But if you're in walking distance to work and also use all the London amenities on your doorstep, it's fine providing your rent is in line with local costs.

Plus it sounds like you should be reasonably financially comfortable, depending on your lifestyle expectations.

It's still leaving you 4k a month to spend and save. I'm sure it's fine, so if the 2k rent is for what you want, I don't see a problem.

When I was growing up the rule of thumb was that rent should be around a third of your take home income. So by that logic you're bang on.

Sounds fine. In 1990 our mortgage (interest only) was 50% of our net pay! However it was certainly a difficult time then. So a third sounds pretty easy. Thanks for the BBC link. We have 18m more people than when I was born here and our highest ever 600k+ net immigration and not enough houses and changes to the tax and other rules which mean landlords are selling up in droves so it is not an easy time for renters.

Seems fine - assuming you want / need to live there!

It leaves you enough money to live on and save (presumably?) so it's fine if that's the lifestyle you want.

There will be people coming on here who live in the countryside and pay £10 a month rent and can't relate to what you're doing, but you have to weigh up the kind of lifestyle you want.

If you get a lot out of being central and like that way of living, then it sounds like you can afford it. Plus, if you move out of the city, you might not earn as much anyway.

What are your plans for the future and can you afford to finance them, through pension contributions, savings etc.

Our take home is similar to yours and we plan to move back to London soon and rent in SE. Our budget is the same as yours and think that's absolutely fine. We plan to get a second bedroom for that but you're in central so understandable pricing