In 18 of London’s 33 boroughs, the median rent for a one-bedroom flat is more than £1,000 a month, statistics from the government agency that values properties for the purposes of council tax in England and Wales show.

In Greater London, the rent for a one-bedroom flat has risen by an average of 22% over the past five years, the Valuation Office Agency data reveals. ... The Valuation Office Agency figures show rents for a one-bedroom flat in Greenwich, south-east London, have risen by up to 30% over five years – from a median of £750 a month to £975. In Islington, in north London, rent for a one-bedroom flat has gone up by 20% over the same period, from £1,213 to £1,452.

In all but four London boroughs, the median rent for a two-bedroom flat is more than £1,100 a month.

The gap between what Londoners should pay – economists most commonly say 30% of their salary – and what they actually pay is among the highest in the world, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute. Anecdotal evidence suggests many Londoners are paying at least half their salary in rent. ... Separate data from 2014, supplied by City Hall, shows that London is becoming like New York and Berlin, where the majority of homes are rented. In the early 1960s, 36% of Londoners owned their homes, the data shows. The figure peaked at 59% at the turn of the century, but by 2011 fell below 50%.

A protest by Focus E15 Mothers at the Carpenters estate in Newham, east London, highlights the shortage of affordable housing in the city.
A protest by Focus E15 Mothers at the Carpenters estate in Newham, east London, highlights the shortage of affordable housing in the city. - “I’ve been in London for 14 years and have this sense of failure that we didn’t manage to do it,” Laura says. “I still come down to London for work. I hear mums in the playground saying with the tax credits going they will struggle. These are people you might think on the outside are privileged, they work in the creative industry and they feel they have to keep up. But people keep it in, like this dirty secret.”NHS worker Janey Galloway said her rent covers 90% of her salary. “I don’t earn enough to get a mortgage and I can’t afford to move, and social housing waiting lists are approximately four years. I’m basically trapped,” she said.To rent in Bexley, the cheapest of London’s suburbs, a nurse or teaching assistant on a salary of £19,700 a year with monthly take-home pay of £1,373 would be looking at paying £700 a month for a one-bedroom flat, according to the Valuation Office Agency data – 50% of their pay.Go north to Barnet and the rent rises to 75% of take-home pay, while the rent in Camden would leave a teaching assistant in debt.Rent control is unpopular among Conservative politicians © Jay Shaw-Baker/Demotix/Corbis