People on middle incomes have been squeezed out of renting in rural towns and villages in southern England, new analysis from countryside charity CPRE reveals.
In 15 rural local authorities across the region, the analysis shows that someone earning the local median income would currently see more than half their take home pay go on rent for the average two-bedroom property.
This is much higher than the widely accepted affordability threshold of 30%, making it very difficult for these households to maintain a decent standard of living.
SEVENOAKS
Sevenoaks is the worst local authority when it comes to unaffordable rents, followed by Bath and northeast Somerset, Tandridge, Chichester and Lewes.
Record high rents and house prices, stagnating wages, huge waiting lists for social housing and a proliferation of second homes and short-term lets are draining the countryside of skills, economic activity and vital public services.
AFFORDABILITY
CPRE is calling on the government to fix the rural housing affordability crisis that is driving people across the region and the country as a whole from the communities they know and love.
There is an extreme disparity between rural rents, which are higher than those in other parts of the country, and rural wages, which are much lower.
Brad Taylor, CPRELast year, rents in rural England increased by 27%, compared to the national average of 17%; in the five years to 2022, house prices in the countryside increased at close to twice the rate of those in urban areas.
Brad Taylor, CPRE housing campaigner, says: “It’s alarming that people on middle incomes – teachers, nurses and emergency services workers – can no longer afford to live in many parts of rural England.
“What will people in these communities do without the essential workers they rely on every day?
“The government has got to get a grip on the rural housing affordability crisis and urgently introduce the changes to legislation we know will make a real difference.”
