Thanet rents have spiked by 30%

According to a report from Kent Live, the cost of renting has increased by almost a third since 2019.

This step rise in rental prices in Thanet is only marginally beaten by the rises seen in Folkstone.

The second biggest spike (30%) has been in Thanet, home to trendy Margate, according to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). One charity has warned people are being “priced out of their areas entirely”, with 60,000 renters across the country leaving their homes following hikes they could not afford.

The Kent towns where rent has gone up the most and is ‘pricing people out of their areas’, Kent Live

The cabinet member for housing at Thanet District Council, Cllr Helen Whitehead (Labour) went on record to promise the “acquisition of council housing with nearly 400 council homes” within the next 18 months. She also promised “the development of in-house temporary housing.”

The Isle of Thanet News reports the following rental prices in Thanet but notes that prices can often be much higher.

• One bedroom: £691
• Two bedrooms: £903
• Three bedrooms: £1,107
• Four or more bedrooms: £1,537

Rent rises across the county ‘pricing people’ out of home towns, The Isle of Thanet News

MSN report that rent prices have increased 10% in the last year and are up 32% from five years ago.

I can confirm from witnessing the struggles of friends and family to find somewhere affordable to live that the rental market is reportedly untenable and simply too expensive. If Thanet truly is the new business capital of South East, I suspect that new fat wallets entering the area could be an inflationary factor.

I wrote recently that Thanet’s risk of homelessness is 5 times the national average. I imagine that this spike in rental prices must surely be at least partly to blame. It might also explain Thanet Council’s pod home plans.

Unless Labour delivers on their plans to create more homes, I don’t see anything changing in the short term. Not a particularly cheerful way to end a post, I know. This is not a cheerful story. Thanet has a problem and all the solutions seem expensive.