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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Thats all for now but you can read the full report here: www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

What needs to happen? Policymakers must boost savings through schemes like Help to Save, expand fair access to affordable credit, tackle high essential costs with social tariffs and stronger Council Tax support, and relieve the stock of arrears already built up.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

But we also know household finances are complex. Families juggle savings, borrowing, and bills in different ways, making trade-offs based on what feels most urgent. For some, keeping up credit repayments comes first; for others, it’s paying the rent or energy bill.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

1) Bills remain much higher than pre-pandemic 2) Credit is more expensive (interest rates up since 2021) + Lenders have tightened criteria = less affordable for poorer families. 3) Regulators have softened some of the consequences of being in arrears - so its no longer as scary

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

But why is this happening? We can point to 3 reasons...

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

...but now arrears are creeping further up the income distribution. In 2023–24, 15% of families in the second income quintile were behind on at least one bill, compared with single-digit levels just a few years earlier.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Council Tax arrears in England tell the same story. They stood at £4.6 billion in 2019–20 but have risen by almost half to £6.7 billion in 2024–25. These debts are increasingly concentrated among poorer families...

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

For instance, energy arrears have more than doubled during the cost of living crisis. The total stock rose from £1.7 billion in early 2019 to £4.2 billion by early 2025. Nearly 1 million electricity and almost 1 million gas customers are now behind on their bills

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

But the real story is what has happened to arrears on priority bills — figures show there has been a rapid accumulation of arrears on the biggest household bills.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

The cost of living crisis followed straight after. Normally we might expect savings to collapse and debts to surge. Yet household balance sheets among poorer families held up better than feared: consumer credit use did not rise, and many continued to save.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Most of this improvement came after 2012, as the economy recovered, and it even continued during the pandemic. Lockdowns gave many families the chance to build up savings, showing how resilient behaviour can grow when conditions allow.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

There has also been progress on savings. Between 2006 and 2022, the share of poorer households with less than £1,000 set aside fell from 63% to 43%. More families have at least a small buffer in place to deal with unexpected costs.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

This means families are carrying less debt than before the financial crisis. And for low-to-middle income households specifically, average consumer debts are lower today than in 2006–08. Formal borrowing like credit cards and loans has fallen, significantly.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Let’s start with the good news. Consumer debt has fallen sharply since the mid-2000s. It peaked at around £5,700 per person in 2005, but has since declined to just £3,300 today — the lowest level on record.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Long-term wealth can tell us something about resilience, but it doesn’t capture families’ day-to-day realities. What matters when shocks hit is whether households can draw on savings, borrow affordably, and avoid falling behind on bills...

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

For more analysis on how housing is affecting living standards for UK families, check out our Housing Indicators here: buff.ly/A2Wof3A

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Today, nearly 1 in 4 families with children (23%) live in the private rented sector, compared to just 1 in 12 (8%) at the start of the millennium. This affordability gap between earnings and rents will continue to add to the cost-of-living pressures facing families.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

This worrying picture on private rents is a growing problem for living standards across Britain. More people than ever before are relying on the private rented sector - not just for a few years, but long term.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Rents aren’t outpacing earnings everywhere. In a 1/3 of local authority areas, including the Derbyshire Dales and Hartlepool, earnings since May 2022 have instead outpaced rents, easing the pressure on local private sector renters.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

This sharp rise in the affordability wedge is not confined to London. In the Welsh Valleys, rents in Torfaen have increased by 40% in the past 3 yrs, while pay has grown only 21%. A similar pattern is seen in neighbouring Rhondda Cynon Taf.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

At the local level, this ‘affordability wedge’ has been most stark in London with 6 boroughs featuring in the top 10 local authorities with the biggest affordability gap. In Tower Hamlets, rents are up 35% since 2022, while earnings have risen by just 18%.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

But from mid-2022, the points at which rents accelerated, earnings haven’t kept up, especially since 2023. This has opened up an ‘affordability wedge’. Had rents grown in line with earnings since May 2022, average rents would be £720 a year lower today.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

So, why has rental price growth been high recently? An important driver of rent levels is renters' ability to pay and in general, rents track earnings closely. Over the past 10 yrs, rents and earnings have grown by 45% and 50% respectively.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Slow price growth for new lets suggests we’ll continue to see pressures ease in the rental market overall.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

While rents overall continue to rise, data on new tenancy prices from Homelet shows annual growth was just 0.4% in July – a dramatic slowdown from the 10%+ increases recorded in mid-2022, &the slowest rate of growth (for new tenancies) in 8 years.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

The rate of rental price growth, and the extent to which growth is slowing, varies across regions. Rents are growing more than twice as fast in the North East as in Yorkshire (8.9% compared to 3.5%). The rate of growth slowed fastest in London (down from 7.3% to 6.3%).

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

New private rental price data out today shows prices are still climbing - but the pace of growth is continuing to ease. In the year to July 2025, UK private rents rose to 5.9%, down from 6.7% in June.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Ethnic minority adults in Britain spend far more on housing than White British adults—yet often live in smaller, overcrowded, or poorer-quality homes. In my latest blog, I explore what's behind this disparity. Read the full piece here: housingevidence.ac.uk/home-heritage/

housingevidence.ac.uk

Home Heritage - UK Collaborative Centre For Housing Evidence

Britain today is more diverse than ever before, and recent polling suggests that public attitudes towards diversity have grown increasingly positive. However, beneath this progress lies a persistent r...

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Overall, though house price growth may be slowing, interest rates still remain elevated. Affordability continues to be a major challenge for many first-time buyers and households coming off fixed-rate mortgages are likely to face renewed financial pressure.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

That means the average UK home now costs around £265,000, which is roughly £9,000 more than this time last year.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Now turning to house prices - the latest ONS data shows annual growth fell in April 2025, down to 3.5% from a revised figure of 7.0% in March, breaking the upward trend that had been building since the slowdown in 2024.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

In fact, *overall* rent levels haven't grown as fast as earnings - though as the larger increases seen in new tenancies feeds through, we'd expect rents are likely to catch up with earnings.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

So why have rents been rising so sharply? An important driver of rent levels is renters' ability to pay - in general rents track earnings pretty closely. With rapid earnings growth post pandemic, it's not surprising that this has fed into rents.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Looking ahead, HomeLet data shows rent growth for new tenancies is cooling. It slowed to just 0.8% in May, well below the 2022 highs. Still, many renters haven’t yet faced rent hikes, so average rents will likely keep rising as older tenancies gradually catch up.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

As usual, the aggregate picture masks regional differences. In May, the North East recorded the fastest annual rent rise at 9.7%, while Yorkshire and The Humber saw a much more modest increase of just 3.7%.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Let’s begin with rents. Private rents are still rising rapidly but the pace of increase continues to slow. According to ONS, rents rose by 7.0% in the year to May 2025, slightly below the 7.4% rise seen in the year to April.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

New data on house prices and rents dropped yesterday — so here’s a quick thread of what’s happening across the housing market right now 👇

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Reposted by Madame economisté

Mike Brewer @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

With impeccable timing, given rumours in the Guardian of a softening of approach towards the two child limit, the New Statesman's policy Spotlight has a piece by me on why the Government will have to do something to stop child poverty rising. www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/po...

newstatesman.com

Reducing child poverty should be Labour's guiding mission

A meaningful strategy must have a target so ministers can be held to account.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Today’s data shows housing costs remain a significant issue. For low-income renters and vulnerable groups, government support like Local Housing Allowance must keep up with rising costs to ensure adequate suport reaches those who need it most.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

This month, the Bank of England cut rates to 4.25% & more cuts expected this yr. That offers some relief to ~625k+ households coming off 2y mortgages & facing lower rates. But ~690k on 5-yr deals could still see costs rise. Its likely that we’re near the peak of mortgage pressure

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

However, house price growth is far from uniform across regions. London saw annual growth of just 0.8%, while the North East led the way at 14.3%.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

This means that the average UK home now costs £271k — £16k more than it was 12 months ago.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Now onto house prices - latest ONS data shows annual price growth reached 6.4% in March 2025, up from 5.5% in Feb 2025 and continuing the recent trend upward since the dip in early 2024 .

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

A new EHS report on the crisis for 2023-24 tells us just that. It shows that private renters have been hit hardest, spending 34% of income on housing—far more than social renters (26%) & mortgagors (19%). For low-income renters, it's worse: an average of 63% goes to rent.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

However, the housing crisis persists and rental data alone doesn’t tell us much about affordability. What really matters is the relationship between housing costs and income.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Encouragingly, new let data is softening much faster. HomeLet reports growth for new tenancies slowed to just 0.3% in Feb, a sharp drop from the peak seen in late 2022.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

But as always, the picture varies across the country. In Apr, the North East recorded the highest rental growth at 9.4%, while Yorkshire saw a much gentler increase of 4.0%.

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Madame economisté @feliciao.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Starting off with rent data and it looks like private rents are still climbing fast, though there are signs the pace may be cooling. ONS data shows prices rose by 7.4% in the year to Apr 2025, a touch slower than the 7.7% annual rise seen in March.

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