Bristol now the most expensive city to live in UK…

Bristol now the most expensive city to live in UK outside London

It is something anyone paying rent and bills, going out with friends or just trying to get around the city has long known, but now it is official: According to new figures released today, Bristol is the second most expensive city to live if you’re a single person, in the UK.

According to number crunching by chartered surveyors Stokemont, Bristol is now firmly the most expensive major city to live outside of London - and people here also suffer a double whammy, because wages are lower too, so spending power is even more reduced.

The analysis looked at a huge range of costs for a single person renting a one-bed flat in or near the centre of 20 different cities across the UK, taking in rent, bills, food costs and general cost of living levels, alongside average wages in those 20 cities.

The most expensive city to live alone in the UK was, unsurprisingly, London, where the estimated cost of living for a single person is just over £3,075 every month.

Previous similar studies have listed places like Edinburgh, Oxford and Brighton with higher rents and cost-of-living, but now Bristol is firmly in second with an average cost of living of £1,913 a month. Edinburgh was third with an average of £1,735 and the cheapest city surveyed was Hull, with an average cost of £1,068 a month.

“The reasons for Bristol’s high cost mirror those found in London - students and workers returning to the city after COVID has generated an imbalance in the housing demand-to-supply ratio, leading to higher rental costs,” said a spokesperson for Stokemont. “It was reported by Zoopla in December that many renters are now paying up to 35% of their income towards rent, a figure which could increase further if the crisis continues,” they added.

Bristol is seeing a boom in residential development, particularly in the city centre areas and south of the river in Bedminster, with thousands of new flats and student accommodation either being built or being planned.

But despite the increase in the numbers of homes, rents continue to rise. People moving in to the new Castle Park View development in the city centre are required to earn £40,000 to even qualify for one of the rented flats, while Bristol City Council’s planners have passed a number of major planning applications with only 20 per cent affordable homes included.

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