Londoners incomes the Nationwide Residing Wage of £12.21 an hour would want to work 63 hours a week- shut to 2 full-time jobs – to maintain their housing prices inside the usual affordability measure of spending not more than 30% of earnings on hire, in accordance with new evaluation from flatshare web site SpareRoom.
Even when the federal government raises the Nationwide Residing Wage to £12.70 within the upcoming Funds, as reported, a Londoner on that charge would nonetheless have to work 60 hours per week to satisfy the identical benchmark.
Shared lodging stays essentially the most reasonably priced choice, but even Londoners paid the upper, voluntary London Residing Wage of £14.80 would nonetheless have to work 52 hours per week to maintain hire under 30% of their earnings.
In actuality, many low-paid important staff are spending 40%–50% of their gross wages on hire. For example, a nursery assistant on the typical wage of £24,420 now spends 49% of their earnings on housing.
London rents have risen 37% over the previous 5 years to £995 monthly in Q3 2025. They first handed the £900 mark in late 2022, peaked in late 2023 at £1,015 monthly, and at the moment are approaching £1,000 as soon as extra. Large demand post-pandemic had a steep upward impact on rents within the capital which have by no means recovered, as proven within the graph under:
The desk under exhibits common London salaries throughout 5 important employee roles and the proportion of earnings spent on renting a mean room within the capital. In all circumstances, it’s far greater than the really useful 30%:
| Common gross annual salaries for London-based important staff | % of wage spent renting a mean room in interior London (£995/month) |
| Nursery assistant: £24,420 | 49% |
| Cleaner: £25,195 | 47% |
| Care employee: £26,175 | 46% |
| Labourer: £26,481 | 45% |
| Ambulance driver: £29,946 | 40% |
Matt Hutchinson, director of flatshare web site SpareRoom, stated: “In her Funds, the chancellor should deal with the housing disaster. Whereas the Renters’ Rights Act brings a lot wanted protections for tenants it does nothing to deal with the issue of already unaffordable rents. Both the Authorities has to do extra to assist individuals meet the excessive price of residing, or it should take a look at inventive methods to cut back rents shortly. Renters don’t have time to attend for housebuilding targets to be met.
“London can’t operate with out its important staff; they’re the lifeblood of the town however, more and more, they’re being priced out. Renter demand continues to construct in suburban and commuter cities like Esher, Twickenham and Aldershot, as individuals head additional afield in the hunt for cheaper rents. However lengthy, costly commutes will not be the reply to the capital’s housing issues, and particularly not for lower-paid shift staff who could also be working lengthy or delinquent hours.
“This isn’t only a London downside, it’s taking place in different city areas too. Cities depend on important staff, as does the financial system. This isn’t simply a problem for a handful of individuals, it’s turning into a nationwide epidemic.”
