Renters is this part of the region spend around 41.3 percent of their income on rentRent costs are the most unaffordable in Trafford(Image: Manchester Evening News)

One part of Greater Manchester has now been named as one of the least affordable places to rent a home in the UK. The cost of renting is becoming even more unaffordable for millions of people in England and Wales.

Private tenants spent around 36.3 percent of the average household income on a rented home in England in 2024, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The average cost to rent is now less affordable in England than it was a year ago, when 33.1 percent of the average household income went on the typical rent.

Millions of renters across the country have experienced rent rises over the last decade. In major cities such as Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham and Leicester, private rents are less affordable now than they were nine years ago.

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Trafford in Greater Manchester is now one of England’s least affordable places to rent outside of London.

With its large gated rental properties, Trafford is often known as the region’s most expensive borough to rent a home, with the average rent costing £1,322 per month in April 2025.

Renting a private home in the area took up around 41.3 percent of the average household income last year, which is the fifth highest percentage of any local authority in England and Wales outside of London.

Only Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, Brighton and Hove and Sevenoaks were less affordable.

However, it is now more affordable to rent in Trafford compared to last year, when around 43.6 percent of the average household income was spent on rent.

But it’s less affordable now than back in 2016 – the earliest year for which figures are available – when private rent costs made up 39.8 percent of the typical household income.

Trafford is now one of UK’s least affordable places to rent(Image: Getty Images)

Manchester was the next least affordable part of our region, with rent taking up 36.7 percent of the average household income last year.

That’s compared to 38.1 percent a year earlier and 36.9 percent in 2016.

In Salford, around 32.4 percent of household income was spent on rent, whilst in Stockport the proportion was 32.2 percent.

In Bury, rents took up 29. percent of the average income last year, whilst in Tameside it was 28.6 percent and in Bolton it was 28.2 percent.

The cheapest areas to rent are in Oldham, Rochdale and Wigan where renting took up less than 26 percent of the average household income.

Ben Twomey, Chief Executive of Generation Rent, said: “Renters are being crushed under the weight of high, unaffordable rents.

“For families up and down the country this means being unable to put money aside for the future, or facing a daily choice between putting food on the table or getting into debt.

“With renters in some of our biggest cities facing the most back breaking costs, the government must urgently give metro mayors all the powers they need to slam the brakes on rising rents.”

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