Londoners hit as wage growth slows and housing costs jump

Wage growth in London has been overshadowed by the rest of the country in the past two decades as surging rents in the city absorbed more of workers’ pay, according to research.

A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that regional pay inequality has narrowed since the early 2000s but wealth inequality has continued to rise as house prices in the capital soared.

Property and financial wealth increased by 150 per cent on average in London between 2008 and 2018, the think tank said. Over the same period in the northeast of England, it rose by just 3 per cent.

Whitehall has been tasked with delivering on Boris Johnson’s promise to “level up” Britain’s economy, boosting activity in “left-behind” areas.

The IFS