12% of people pay more than half their wage on housing costs
30/01/2015
12% of UK adults are paying more than 50% of their take home wage on their mortgage or rent payments, according to research from the Debt Advisory Center. (DAC).
The research found that the majority of adults (69%) spend around 29% of their take home pay on rent or mortgage payments each month. 33% of adults spend less than 20% of their income on housing payments. 12% of adults spend over half of their wage each month, leading to fears that house price growth is leaving people with not enough money to pay for household bills and food.
People aged between 18 and 24 spend the highest proportion of their take-home pay on housing, with 18% committing more than half of their income to cover their rent or mortgage. In London, 14% of people pay over half their income on housing payments, and across the South East, one in six are spending over half their take home on housing.
Ian Williams, spokesman for DAC, says:
“For most people, their rent or mortgage payment is their single biggest monthly commitment. Whilst paying over half of your income on housing may be sustainable for some, it certainly leaves very little to cover other essential bills or any other credit commitments.
”Homebuyers whose housing costs account for a high proportion of their income may be particularly vulnerable to changes in interest rates, if they haven’t fixed their mortgage.”
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