Increasing cost of running a home revealed in report

The real cost of running an average-sized home in the UK has been revealed in a new report.

Almost half of all household income is spent running the home, and owning a three-bedroom home in the UK now has the annual running cost of £21,402.95, that’s £1,783.57 per month.

Home insurer MORE TH>N revealed the findings in its third Cost of Running a Home report.

The report takes into account everything from mortgage or rental costs right down to the price of garden maintenance.

For renters, living in the average home comes in just £1,060.40 cheaper at £20,342.55 per year, or £1,695.20 per month.

Compared to 2017, this is a £3,206 increase in running costs for homeowners, which equates to an extra £267 per month. For renters this is a £2,685 increase since 2017 and sees them paying out an extra £224 per month on running a rented home.

For a household where two adults earn the UK national average this means a total of 45 per cent of their joint salary is spent on household bills and a mortgage, or 43 per cent of salaries for those choosing to rent and pay bills.

In Yorkshire, owners have seen costs rise by at least 18 per cent across the region but in Bradford costs are up by a quarter and 24 per cent in both Richmond and Sheffield.

Renters have seen significant rises in costs across the region with rises in excess of 20 per cent in Bradford, Richmond and Scarborough (21 per cent).

The MORE TH>N CORAH report was compiled independently and the results show significant variation in the costs of running the same size home in 72 towns across the UK[, contrasting the cost of average household bills plus payments for rent or a mortgage.

For the third year running, London’s Westminster remains the most expensive place to rent the average home (£7,044.10 per month) and to own (£12,578.53 per month). The cheapest places to own a three-bedroom home in the UK are all within Ireland and Wales.

Howwever, those who live in a home with two bedrooms or less saw the total running costs drop by roughly five per cent - irrespective of these homes being owned or rented - a sharp contrast to the 15-18 per cent rise in running costs that three or more bedroom homes have seen since 2017.

Average statistics also mask that for 19 out of the 72 towns surveyed across the country, the total cost of owning and running a home exceeded the national average.

Renters living in one bedroom flats across the UK paid more for their accommodation and household bills compared to those who had a mortgage – with just a handful of exceptions from the 720 properties analysed.

Robert Fairs, head of home insurance, MORE TH>N said; “The report looks at the UK’s average homes and the associated costs, and it’s evident that the picture has hardly changed over the last three years, with families remaining under pressure with rising costs, resulting in them still spending almost half of their income before paying for other regular necessities such as food, commuting, petrol or insurance.

“This means there is little room in the budget for unexpected costs - if something goes wrong within the house, residents have very little money to be able to cover these costs."