If fellow London renters feel like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders this week, it could be because, on average, you have officially earned enough in 2024 to pay your rent for the year.
According to data released to dubiously celebrate the inaugural Cost of Rent Day, the average English renter works 125 days of the year solely to pay their annual rent bill.
This places the England-wide Cost of Rent Day on 5 May. But Londoners have to put in a few extra months- the capital’s Cost of Rent Day, according to the Adam Smith Institute, landed on Tuesday, 16 July.
In adding the event to the national calendar, the think tank hopes to highlight “the severity of the housing and rental crisis into simple terms that can be easily understood by all audiences”.
The Adam Smith Institute collated data from 309 local areas and nine regions across England to determine the day.
London borough Kensington and Chelsea has the latest Cost of Rent day of 25 September, while Burnley in Lancashire has the earliest at 10 March.
It is a surprising initiative for the typically conservative Adam Smith Institute, which is named after the ‘Godfather of Capitalism’.
However, the institute pressed that Cost of Rent Day is “not intended as an attack upon landlords”.
“Landlords often come under scrutiny in discussions about the housing market, yet their role is essential in ensuring the availability of quality, affordable housing, it said, adding: “Economics tells us landlords are not just necessary but are beneficial to a housing ecosystem.”
Adam Smith Institute placed the blame for Britain’s housing crisis on a lack of supply in the face of “increased urbanisation, immigration and changes in household compositions”.
Labour’s pro-housing policy, therefore, should come with begrudging approval from the think tank.
It dismissed the concept of rent controls in order to keep rent costs down.
Renters unable to save
Although Cost of Rent Day is now in the rearview mirror for the majority of English renters, they are unlikely to find much solace in the fact.
New research from First Direct shows that nearly a third of private renters are too financially burdened to save any money.
The proportion of those who are struggling to save following rental hikes has tripled from 11% a year ago, said the HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA)-owned online bank
ONS data shows that average private rents across the UK increased by 8.6% year on year in June, a slight improvement from 8.7% the previous month.