PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION RENT PRICES SOAR IN YORK

BY KATIE PRESTON AND EMILY SINCLAIR

PRIOR TO THE current cost of living crisis, rent statistics across the country were already demonstrating the impacts of Brexit, COVID-19 and a failing economy.

Now due to increasing energy rates, anxiety amongst students for affording rent in the private sector has greatly increased.

Recorded between October 2020 and September 2021, median monthly rent was £755 for England, the highest ever recorded at the time.

According to Save the Student, the average amount students pay for rent in the UK is £148, around £641 per month, despite the average maintenance loan being just £470.

Currently, approximately 56% of students have to borrow money from parents, banks and friends to help pay rent, with the continuing cost of living crisis worsening the financial impact on students.

In 2022, the National Union of

Students found that one in three students are left with less than £50 after paying rent and bills. A further 96% are also having to cut back on general spending due to the cost of living.

Katie, Vision’s Editor and President, expressed anger at her already high rent increasing:

“My rent is already around £181 per week with bills included. Paying rent quarterly, we each have to fork out over £2.1k every three months, with our upcoming January rent being quite a concern for us both due to cost of living over Christmas”.

According to a survey by Save the Student, the average student falls £439 a month short of covering average living costs (approximately £924 a month), with 66% of students believing that the Maintenance Loan is not enough to cover basic living essentials.

In order to be be a student, you fundamentally need somewhere to live - with prices sky rocketing, it is no surprise that