Shock new figures show rent in Lancaster and Morecambe costs nearly a third of the average wage

New Office for National Statistics figures show the average rent in the Lancaster district was £701 a month in May.

Separate data from the ONS show the median wage for the same month was £2,181 in the area – meaning rent accounted for 32% of the monthly income for an average individual.

The figures are based on individual wages – cohabiting couples or those living in house shares will see rent shared between multiple wages.

Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said: "Prices in the shops may have stopped rising so quickly, but renters are still seeing our single biggest cost go up faster than our incomes.

"Landlords can raise the rent as high as they think they can get away with and use the threat of a no-fault eviction to bully their tenants to accept it."

He added: "We won't fix the cost of renting crisis unless the next government acts to slam the brakes on these runaway rents."

Rent in Lancaster has increased 6% from £662 a year ago, and has jumped 21% from £577 when records started in 2015.

Across England, rent has increased 9% from last year and 35% since 2015.

Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: "Successive governments have failed to build the social rent homes we desperately need and private rents are continuing to rocket as a result.

"Every day we hear from people who are forced to cough up money they simply don’t have just to keep hold of an overpriced and often shoddy rental."