New research has revealed that despite rent price decreases in some regions, private renting is still too expensive for many tenants in the UK.
The analysis by ARLA Propertymark highlights a growing ‘affordability ceiling’ — meaning that rental costs have reached levels that many people find increasingly difficult to meet compared to their income.
The report compares average rental prices with the typical annual salary needed to afford them in August 2025.
While there have been small month-to-month rent declines in some areas, overall costs remain high and continue to put pressure on renters.
Average rent compared to salary in the UK
According to the data, London remains the least affordable place to rent.
Average monthly rent is currently at £2,389, requiring an annual salary of £71,670 to secure a typical private rented home. However, this figure reflects a slight decrease from £73,050 in the previous August.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland is much more affordable. Average rent cost £947, with an income requirement of £28,410 — albeit with a small year-on-year increase in salary requirements, up from £27,540.
Other regions, such as Scotland, the North West, and Yorkshire and Humberside, saw modest salary increases required to keep pace with rental price rises, whereas some areas, including the East Midlands and East of England, experienced a slight ease in salary demands.
Despite the regional differences, the data shows that a lack of housing, rising landlord costs, and regulatory burdens are keeping prices high.
Megan Eighteen, president of ARLA Propertymark, said: ‘Year-on-year, rental rises have eased across many areas of the country. Much of the private rented market has reached its peak when it comes to affordability, and coupled with slowly decreasing interest rates, this is starting to make rents soften slightly.
‘However, this will not be enough to bring down rents to more affordable levels across the board in the longer term.’
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She pointed to a chronic undersupply of homes as a main cause, as well as the repeal of mortgage interest relief and regulatory measures that raise costs for landlords, which are in turn passed on to tenants.
She argued that policies should support professional landlords to meet ongoing demand, rather than adding extra barriers.
How much are UK tenants spending on rent?
Meanwhile, government statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) backed up ARLA’s findings.
In 2024, tenants in England spent an average of 36.3% of their income on rent, a rise from 34.2% in 2023.
In contrast, renters in Wales and Northern Ireland spent lower proportions of their income on rent (25.9% and 25.3% respectively), indicating regional differences in housing cost burdens across the UK.
This trend aligns with ARLA’s findings that prices in some UK regions are easing slightly, while England, and particularly London, struggle with persistently high costs.
Elsewhere, ONS figures show that average monthly private rents across the UK rose by 6.7% in the year to June 2025, reaching £1,344.
Although this is a slightly slower increase than the 7% rise in May, rental inflation remains elevated, with rents still rising faster than wages and keeping the pressure on tenants in the UK.