Rent in Luton rises 7% in past year
Rent in Luton rose 7 per cent over the past year, new figures show.
While annual growth in rental prices across Great Britain has been slowing, campaign group Generation Rent warned "rents continue to rise faster than our wages" and urged the Government to act on rent increases.
Provisional figures from the ONS show the average private rent in Luton reached £1,190 per month in the year to August – up 7 per cent from £1,110 a year prior.
It was also up 34 per cent from an estimated £885 a month five years ago.
Valuation Office Agency rent officers collect prices from a variety of sources, including landlords and letting agents, with the aim to collect data on approximately 10% of the market.
Across the East of England, the average rent was £1,245 – rising 7 per cent from the year before.
St Albans had the highest rental cost in the region at £1,878 per month, while the lowest was in Great Yarmouth at £781.
The average private rent in Great Britain was £1,360 per month in August. While this was £73, or 5.7 per cent, higher than 12 months ago, this annual growth rate was down from 5.9 per cent in the 12 months to July.
Ben Twomey, Generation Rent chief executive, said: "Homes are the foundations of our lives, but rents continue to rise faster than our wages, swallowing more and more of our income.
"High rents push people into homelessness and trap them in temporary accommodation, they pull children into poverty and prevent people from saving for the future.
"We rightly have caps on our energy and water bills, but the same protections don’t exist to stop landlords from pricing us out of our homes.
"The Government can and must act through devolving powers to Mayors to limit rent increases in their areas."
Separate ONS figures published earlier this week show a rise in total wage growth including bonuses to 4.7 per cent in the quarter to July, up from 4.6 per cent in the three months to June.
The provisional figures also show the different costs for various homes in Luton, from £883 for a one-bed property to £1,775 for a home with four or more bedrooms in August.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "The best way to reduce rents is to boost supply, and we will build 1.5 million homes to restore the dream of homeownership.
"We will give people security through our Renters’ Rights Bill, empower tenants to challenge rent hikes and have been clear we will not allow rent controls – which make it harder to find an affordable home."