§ Mr. PondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the real rises in rents for(a) council, (b) housing association and (c) private sector dwellings between 1979 and the latest date available. [12198]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe average weekly rent for local authority tenants in England increased from £6.49 to £40.05 between 1979–80 and 1996–97, which represents a 135 per cent. increase in real terms after adjusting for inflation as measured by the GDP market price deflator. The closest comparison that can be made for average private sector rents is between 1978 and 1996–97 when rents rose from £6.70 to £76.49, a 263 per cent. increase in real terms. These average private sector rents are estimates from the 1978 private renters survey and the 1996–97 survey of English housing and are subject to sampling variability. No data on overall average housing association rents are available before 1984.