Cambridge has become a more affordable place to rent over the last decade, despite having got worse over the last year. The average cost of renting a private home in Cambridge made up 35.5 percent of the median household income last year, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That’s up from 34.0 percent a year earlier, but is more affordable than it was before the pandemic. Back in 2019 the average private rent made up 38.2 percent of the average household income, while in 2016 - the earliest year for which figures are available - the proportion was 43.9 percent. While private rents still make up more than a third of household income in the city, things are more affordable than elsewhere in the country. Bristol is the least affordable local authority outside of London, with 44.6 percent of average household income being taken up by private rents. In Bath and North East Somerset it was 42.7 percent, in Brighton and Hove it was 42.5 percent, and in Sevenoaks it was 42.0 percent. Other parts of our county were more affordable to rent than Cambridge. In South Cambridgeshire, typical private rent made up 26.8 percent of the average household income. In East Cambridgeshire it was 26.0 percent, in Huntingdonshire it was 24.5 percent, in Peterborough it was 23.8 percent and in Fenland it was 22.3 percent. Solihull has seen the largest change in unaffordability. The average private rent in the area made up 29.4 percent of the average household income back in 2015/16. That’s since risen to 36.1 percent, an increase of 6.7 percentage points. In Rugby private rents have gone from making up 24.3 percent of the average income to 29.1 percent. In Leeds they have gone from 30.9 percent to 35.6 percent, and in Bristol they have increased from 39.8 percent to 44.6 percent. 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.”