Families are opting for smaller homes due to rising costs
Figures obtained by Dataloft have found that thousands more families are renting smaller properties as a result of increasing costs.
Dataloft, a data-driven research consultancy specialising in residential property, have discovered renters aged over 30 are more likely to move to cheaper areas as the cost of renting has skyrocketed.
The research from Dataloft, which took a sample of between 4,807 and 6,732 new tenancies signed by families between January 2020 and June 2023, has been analysed by the BBC.
Since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis rents have been soaring at a rapid rate, increasing at more than 10% in a year for some tenancies in some areas. As a result, young, single people are finding it hard to start out.
What’s more is that almost half of new tenancies taken on by families earning £30,000 to £70,000 in the first six months of this year were for one or two bed homes.
In the first half of 2020, 57% of new tenancies signed by families on £30,000 to £70,000 a year were for homes with at least three bedrooms, but during the same period in 2023 the figure had fallen to less than 51% according to Dataloft.
Sandra Jones, managing director of Dataloft, said: ‘We believe these reductions in renters’ standard of living to be the direct result of the severe supply constraint that has driven up rents.
‘When affordability is stretched, as it is for so many today, people make trade-offs in order to stay within a budget.’
As well as more people looking to move, the National Housing Federation (NHF) has suggested more older people faced insecure, expensive tenancies. As a result, the body, which represents housing associations, said older people’s health were suffering and called for an increase in social housing.
In addition, the NHF completed a survey of 2,000 people which found that of the number of people aged over 55 who were renting privately in England 42% reportedly struggled to cover their basic living costs such as buying food and clothes or heating their homes.
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