Rent spent steady 5 years on

At 28.3%, the proportion of gross income private renters in England and Wales spend on their rent is only marginally higher than five years ago.
In the North East and South West, renters spend proportionally less than they did back in 2015/16. The North West is the only region where the proportional increase in spend is more than 1%.
Over the past five years, average earnings of renters have risen by 8.8% while average rents have risen by 9.6%.
Currently demand for rental properties is high. Average asking rents in Q2 2021 were up 2.6% year-on-year (Rightmove) and a shortage of stock looks set to underpin prices over the coming months. Source: Dataloft Rental Market Analytics (DRMA), based on tenancies started 01.07.20 to 30.06.21 and 01.07.15 to 30.06.16