Private rents levels under scrutiny

The median monthly rent for a one-bedroom property in the city was £495 in 2019/20, according to the data from the Valuation Office Agency - above the regional average of £460.

Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal rising wages are outpacing the increase in rental costs – with the median salary of a full-time worker in Sunderland rising by 21% between 2011 and 2020.

The figures show that in Sunderland, the average full-time worker earned a median salary of £2,245 a month before tax in 2020 – meaning they would have to fork out 18% of their wages on renting a one-bed home in the area.

Pressure group Generation Rent said rising rental prices mean the prospect of homeownership is getting further out of reach for many people.

Dan Wilson Craw, the group's deputy director, said: "Renters have to work longer hours, commute further and share with other adults for longer just to keep a roof over our heads.

"If the Government wants everyone to thrive it must do all it can to drive down rents, including investment in council homes."

Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charioty Shelter, said hundreds of thousands of renters nationally are now "struggling to make ends meet" amid the economic fallout of the pandemic.

She said: "Private renting is already grossly unaffordable. Rents have outpaced wages for years and now the pandemic is turbo-charging the problem.”