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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOUSING BY DEPUTY M. TADIER OF ST. BRELADE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 24th FEBRUARY 2015
Question
What percentage of a household's net income does the Minister consider is reasonable to spend on renting one's home; what figures, if any, are available regarding the average spend in Jersey by tenants and is the Minister aware of how these figures compare with neighbouring countries in Europe?
Answer
Using figures produced by the Statistics Unit from the Household Expenditure Survey 2009/2010, the net average weekly household expenditure on rents in Jersey as of December 2014 is estimated as follows:
Category of tenure | 2009/2010 average expenditure on rent (p/w) |
Social rental | £100 |
Private qualified' rental | £172.50 |
Private non-qualified' rental | £190 |
The next Jersey Household Expenditure Survey is expected later this year and will include figures on the average expenditure by households on housing costs, including rent.
However, a better measure of rental market affordability is the stress' that housing payments have on household incomes, which is provided in the 2013 Jersey Housing Affordability Report. The focus of the model is on low-income households who spend more than 30 percent of their gross income (including benefits) on housing costs such as mortgages or rent.
The Percentage of lower income households living in housing stress are:
| Owner-occupied with mortgages | Social rental | Private rental | Non-qualified |
2013 | 35 | 31 | 56 | 52 |
The model does not take into account middle to high income households since some of these will be able to spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing costs and still have sufficient funds to meet non-housing costs.
Average household rents in Jersey are comparatively higher than in England and Wales, and mainland Europe, though like-for-like comparisons are difficult to make. Rental stress levels are therefore a more appropriate measure of affordability, but comparable data from the United Kingdom is not readily available.