{ "name": "Furness Room-Rent Affordability Index — Q3 2026", "edition": "Q3 2026", "description": "Median advertised room rent set against ONS median gross weekly pay and the Local Housing Allowance shared accommodation rate for Barrow-in-Furness, Dalton-in-Furness and Ulverston, Q3 2026. One row per town.", "publisher": { "name": "Outstanding Property Ltd", "url": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/", "companyNumber": "11473362" }, "licence": { "name": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attributionName": "Furness Room-Rent Affordability Index — Outstanding Property", "attributionUrl": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/", "creditLine": "Source: Furness Room-Rent Affordability Index, Outstanding Property — https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/", "summary": "Free to reuse, republish and re-analyse, including commercially, with credit as a link to https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/." }, "landingPage": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/room-rent-affordability/", "distribution": { "csv": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/room-rent-affordability-2026-q3.csv", "json": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/room-rent-affordability-2026-q3-notes-2026-10-18-pay-scope.json" }, "geography": { "area": "Furness peninsula, Cumbria, United Kingdom", "towns": [ "Barrow-in-Furness (LA13/LA14)", "Dalton-in-Furness (LA15)", "Ulverston (LA12)" ], "postcodeDistricts": [ "LA12", "LA13", "LA14", "LA15" ] }, "method": "Three published figures per town, and three ratios derived from them. Room rent is the median of every priced \"room offered\" advert for the town on the count day (Furness Room Rent Index, same build, same rows). Pay is the ONS ASHE median gross weekly pay for the local authority. The LHA figure is the shared accommodation rate for the Broad Rental Market Area. Rent as a share of pay is median rent ÷ median pay. The gap is median rent − LHA shared rate, weekly and × 52. The share at or below LHA counts each advert individually against the LHA rate.", "cadence": "quarterly, alongside the Rent Index; the ONS ASHE row changes once a year (October) and the LHA row once a financial year (April)", "nextReview": "2026-12-01", "checked": "2026-09-17", "sources": [ { "id": "ashe-2025-westmorland-and-furness-ft-weekly-gross-median", "kind": "earnings", "area": "Westmorland and Furness", "measure": "Median gross weekly pay, full-time employees, by place of work", "value": 767.9, "unit": "£ per week", "period": "ASHE 2025 (provisional)", "publisher": "Office for National Statistics", "published": "2025-10-23", "checked": "2026-09-17", "source_url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofworkbylocalauthorityashetable7", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "method": "ASHE 2025 provisional, Table 7.1a (gross weekly pay, place of work), full-time employees, median, Westmorland and Furness unitary authority (E06000064). Read from the ONS dataset page above and cross-checked against the same cell in the NOMIS API (dataset NM_99_1, workplace analysis), which returns 767.9. Place of work, so it is what jobs in the area pay rather than what residents earn; gross, so before tax and National Insurance. The equivalent all-employees figure (full-time and part-time together) is £638.70 — we publish the full-time one because it is the standard headline, and the all-employees figure would make rents look less affordable, not more.", "towns": [ "barrow-in-furness", "dalton-in-furness", "ulverston" ] }, { "id": "lha-2026-27-barrow-in-furness-brma-cat-a", "kind": "lha", "area": "Barrow-in-Furness BRMA", "measure": "Local Housing Allowance shared accommodation rate (Category A)", "value": 91, "unit": "£ per week", "period": "April 2026 to March 2027", "publisher": "Valuation Office Agency", "published": "2026-01-30", "checked": "2026-09-17", "source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates-applicable-from-april-2026-to-march-2027", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "method": "Table 4 (“LHA April 2026”) of the VOA’s 2026-27 LHA tables, row “Barrow-in-Furness”, column CAT A — the workbook’s Explanations sheet defines CAT A as “a dwelling where the tenant has exclusive use of only one bedroom with shared use of other facilities”, which is the shared accommodation rate. All four Furness postcode districts (LA12, LA13, LA14, LA15) fall in the Barrow-in-Furness Broad Rental Market Area, so one rate covers all three towns. The rate is frozen: it is identical to the April 2024 rate in Table 1 of the same workbook, because the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2026 No. 5 excluded the newer lettings data from the calculation. Table 2 of the same workbook puts the 30th percentile of actual Barrow-in-Furness lettings up to September 2025 at £107.45 a week — £16.45 above the rate that is actually paid.", "towns": [ "barrow-in-furness", "dalton-in-furness", "ulverston" ] } ], "rentIndex": { "landingPage": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/room-rent-index/", "edition": "Q3 2026", "collectedOn": "2026-09-02", "csv": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/rent-index-2026-q3.csv", "json": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/rent-index-2026-q3.json" }, "limitations": [ "Geography correction, 18 October 2026: the preserved source-method record says all four postcode districts fall wholly within Barrow-in-Furness BRMA. This is too broad: the official LA12 partial-postcode lookup returns both Barrow-in-Furness and Kendal BRMAs. These rows use a common Barrow-in-Furness shared-rate benchmark for the named-town advert samples; they do not determine the applicable rate for an individual advert or home. Check the actual postcode through LHA-Direct.", "Advertised rents, not agreed rents, and one portal on one day. The rent side of every ratio here inherits every limitation of the Furness Room Rent Index — read them on that page and in its data file.", "Rent medians cover all priced adverts, whether or not bills are included. Rents are not adjusted to a common bills-inclusive total, so the rent/pay ratio and the LHA subtraction are not complete housing-cost budgets.", "The index chooses the Westmorland and Furness local-authority workplace pay figure as a common benchmark for all three town samples; it is not a separate pay estimate for each town. ONS also publishes ASHE workplace estimates by parliamentary constituency (Table 9), which this index does not use. No alternative geography estimate is substituted in this revision.", "ASHE median gross weekly pay is for full-time employees by place of work — what jobs in the area pay, not what residents earn. It is before tax, and it excludes the self-employed, part-time workers and anyone not in employment. It does not measure the incomes of room renters.", "The LHA shared accommodation rate is a published comparison benchmark here, not an individual benefit award or a cap on a landlord’s asking rent. Universal Credit usually applies the shared rate to eligible under-35s without a partner or children, with exceptions. Actual housing support depends on eligibility and circumstances; this subtraction does not calculate a claimant’s shortfall.", "The share of adverts at or below the LHA rate counts adverts, not rooms let, and ignores whether the landlord would accept a benefit claimant at all.", "First edition. There is no time series yet, so nothing here supports a change-over-time claim.", "We are a landlord in this market. Any of our own adverts present in the public results would be included in the rent side under the same counting rules. We do not exclude ourselves and we do not mark ourselves." ], "notesRevision": { "edition": "Q3 2026", "date": "2026-10-18", "reason": "Retain the benefit/income and postcode corrections, and clarify the chosen local-authority pay benchmark: ONS also publishes ASHE by parliamentary constituency. Numeric rows and original source provenance remain unchanged.", "originalSHA256": "a1d1330631ec1daa43e53467b426f8a6a972b91b15357aabdf45c32ae047721d", "guidance": [ "https://www.gov.uk/housing-and-universal-credit/renting-from-private-landlord", "https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/what-youll-get", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-local-housing-allowances-rates-broad-rental-market-areas" ], "previousRevisions": [ { "url": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/room-rent-affordability-2026-q3-notes-2026-10-15.json", "sha256": "58d4de41364f957135c23be8d718c38742e4b6f472ff8de87fc482323d5e4e71", "label": "15 October 2026 notes JSON" }, { "url": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/room-rent-affordability-2026-q3-notes-2026-10-18.json", "sha256": "b167f13a846524094ce602c47475173dc6fc9e0da010cf5db967825d576caa85", "label": "18 October 2026 geography notes JSON" } ], "geographyCorrection": { "checked": "2026-10-18", "source": "https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/SearchResults.aspx?Postcode=LA12&LHACategory=0&Month=10&Year=2026&SearchPageParameters=true", "partialPostcode": "LA12", "observation": "The official partial-postcode lookup returns both Barrow-in-Furness and Kendal BRMAs. The prior claim that all four postcode districts fall wholly within Barrow-in-Furness BRMA is too broad.", "interpretation": "The index applies a common Barrow-in-Furness BRMA shared-rate benchmark to the named-town advert samples; it does not establish the actual rate for an individual advert or home." }, "slug": "pay-scope", "payGeographyCorrection": { "checked": "2026-10-18", "source": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofworkbyparliamentaryconstituencyashetable9", "observation": "ONS also publishes ASHE workplace earnings by parliamentary constituency (Table 9).", "interpretation": "This index chooses the Westmorland and Furness local-authority workplace pay figure from Table 7 as a common comparison benchmark. It is not a separate pay estimate for each town or the income of room renters. The earlier blanket rationale about publication below local-authority level was too broad; no alternative geography estimate is substituted here." }, "supersedes": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/room-rent-affordability-2026-q3.json", "numericRowsChanged": false }, "fields": [ { "name": "town", "description": "Town the room adverts were listed under" }, { "name": "adverts", "description": "Priced \"room offered\" adverts counted in that town on the count day" }, { "name": "median_room_rent_pw", "description": "Median advertised room rent, £ per week, bills as advertised (Furness Room Rent Index)" }, { "name": "median_gross_weekly_pay", "description": "ONS ASHE median gross weekly pay for the local authority, £ per week" }, { "name": "pay_area", "description": "Local authority the pay figure is for" }, { "name": "rent_share_of_pay_pct", "description": "Median advertised room rent as a percentage of median gross weekly pay" }, { "name": "lha_shared_rate_pw", "description": "Local Housing Allowance shared accommodation rate for the Broad Rental Market Area, £ per week" }, { "name": "lha_brma", "description": "Broad Rental Market Area the LHA rate is for" }, { "name": "gap_median_minus_lha_pw", "description": "Median advertised room rent minus the LHA shared accommodation rate, £ per week" }, { "name": "gap_median_minus_lha_py", "description": "The same gap over a year, £ (gap × 52)" }, { "name": "adverts_at_or_below_lha", "description": "Adverts advertised at or below the LHA shared accommodation rate" }, { "name": "adverts_at_or_below_lha_pct", "description": "Those adverts as a percentage of all priced adverts in the town" }, { "name": "rent_source_url", "description": "Source for the room-rent figure" }, { "name": "rent_checked", "description": "Date the room-rent source was last collected" }, { "name": "pay_source_url", "description": "Source for the pay figure" }, { "name": "pay_published", "description": "Publication date of the pay figure" }, { "name": "pay_checked", "description": "Date a person last verified the pay figure at that URL" }, { "name": "lha_source_url", "description": "Source for the LHA figure" }, { "name": "lha_published", "description": "Publication date of the LHA figure" }, { "name": "lha_checked", "description": "Date a person last verified the LHA figure at that URL" } ], "rows": [ { "town": "Barrow-in-Furness", "adverts": 127, "median_room_rent_pw": 135, "median_gross_weekly_pay": 767.9, "pay_area": "Westmorland and Furness", "rent_share_of_pay_pct": 17.6, "lha_shared_rate_pw": 91, "lha_brma": "Barrow-in-Furness BRMA", "gap_median_minus_lha_pw": 44, "gap_median_minus_lha_py": 2288, "adverts_at_or_below_lha": 0, "adverts_at_or_below_lha_pct": 0, "rent_source_url": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/rent-index-2026-q3.csv", "rent_checked": "2026-09-02", "pay_source_url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofworkbylocalauthorityashetable7", "pay_published": "2025-10-23", "pay_checked": "2026-09-17", "lha_source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates-applicable-from-april-2026-to-march-2027", "lha_published": "2026-01-30", "lha_checked": "2026-09-17" }, { "town": "Dalton-in-Furness", "adverts": 5, "median_room_rent_pw": 127, "median_gross_weekly_pay": 767.9, "pay_area": "Westmorland and Furness", "rent_share_of_pay_pct": 16.5, "lha_shared_rate_pw": 91, "lha_brma": "Barrow-in-Furness BRMA", "gap_median_minus_lha_pw": 36, "gap_median_minus_lha_py": 1872, "adverts_at_or_below_lha": 0, "adverts_at_or_below_lha_pct": 0, "rent_source_url": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/rent-index-2026-q3.csv", "rent_checked": "2026-09-02", "pay_source_url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofworkbylocalauthorityashetable7", "pay_published": "2025-10-23", "pay_checked": "2026-09-17", "lha_source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates-applicable-from-april-2026-to-march-2027", "lha_published": "2026-01-30", "lha_checked": "2026-09-17" }, { "town": "Ulverston", "adverts": 8, "median_room_rent_pw": 138, "median_gross_weekly_pay": 767.9, "pay_area": "Westmorland and Furness", "rent_share_of_pay_pct": 18, "lha_shared_rate_pw": 91, "lha_brma": "Barrow-in-Furness BRMA", "gap_median_minus_lha_pw": 47, "gap_median_minus_lha_py": 2444, "adverts_at_or_below_lha": 0, "adverts_at_or_below_lha_pct": 0, "rent_source_url": "https://outstandingproperty.co.uk/data/rent-index-2026-q3.csv", "rent_checked": "2026-09-02", "pay_source_url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofworkbylocalauthorityashetable7", "pay_published": "2025-10-23", "pay_checked": "2026-09-17", "lha_source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates-applicable-from-april-2026-to-march-2027", "lha_published": "2026-01-30", "lha_checked": "2026-09-17" } ] }