Rent hikes, a wealth tax and huge growth in money transfers

The cost of renting a one-bedroom property in the UK has soared to swallow almost half of the average young worker’s take-home pay, according to figures published in The Guardian, while those living in London are typically handing over 57 per cent of their monthly wages. Data from property firm Countrywide showed that the average cost of a new tenancy on a one-bedroom home hit £746 a month in May, taking up 48 per cent of the take-home pay of a worker aged under 30. In London, the average rent on a one-bed property was an extraordinary £1,133 in May. Rising rents had outstripped growth in earnings to such an extent in the capital that since 2007 the proportion of take-home pay used to meet the cost had increased from 41 per cent to 57 per cent, Countrywide said. Work worries The Guardian also reports that four-and-a-half million people in England and Wales are in insecure work, according to research by Citizens Advice.