According to homeless charity Shelter, a family would need to take home almost £3,500 each month in order to be able to affordably rent a typical two bedroom home in London. It said that typical London household income is less than £35,000 a year, which equates to take-home pay of less than £2,200 a month.

The charity said that around one in four London families rent from a private landlord, an increase of 70% in the proportion of familes in the Private Rented Sector over two years.

It added that the rate of inflation on private rents in London was 7% in 2011, almost double the rate of inflation on the average London wage, indicating that family budgets are set to be squeezed even further as rent rises consistently outstrip inflation.

Shelter chief executive, Campbell Robb, said: “These findings paint a worrying picture of thousands of families across the capital being stretched to the limit by the high cost of renting, praying they won’t be hit by another rent rise that could tip them over the edge.

“With so many Londoners locked out of homeownership, more and more families have no other option but to rent, but rents are so out of touch with wages that some families are spending over half of their income just to keep a roof over their head.“

Sponsored

Welcome to the future: how collaboration is driving the shift to digital home buying

Sponsored by Halifax Intermediaries