What percentage of wages to spend on rent?

Coriolanus

Just wondering what people here think.

I know there's a thread listing what people do spend, but that doesn't give the full picture.

Moving out of a rent-free situation (sort of, main contributor to bills, food etc, no actual "rent" per se) and trying to work out my budget.

Been a couple years since I last rented, and I was a bit better off financially then so tbh I never had to pay attention to such concerns!

So I've been reading online that rent should be no more than 33% of income, but that's from a variety of american sites.
Personally I don't think that's applicable to the irish market, but maybe it is?

ntlbell

I don't think you can really put a % on it.

if your left with money to live the lifestyle you wish to, live comfortably, save a bit. the place is somewhere you want to live etc then just spend what you see fit to give you the above

RATM

I try to keep it below 25% of my net salary, though getting it lower than that is preferable

planetX

mine is 45% and I can barely scrape by in the winter with heating costs as well. Keep it lower if you can!

Victor

Have a look here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055786512 Most people are spending between 10-40% of their net income. That will be quite mixed with people on low incomes spending a lot of their income on rent out of necessity or high rollers forking out an absolute fortune for the very best places. At the lower end you will have the people on low incomes having very basic places or even overcrowding and the high rollers in ordinary places.

rightwingdub

Mine is 18% as a result of recent rent reduction, I always aim to have my rent less than 20% of my salary, thats why I live with other people instead of renting on my own.

Coriolanus

Thanks all. You've shone a bit of a light on things.