10 hours Ago By The Telegraph
More of us are single for longer, and it’s costing us dearly. A third of working-age adults in Britain were chronically single at the time of the latest census. This is up almost 6 percentage points since 2000.
Meanwhile, marriage rates are tumbling and the number of babies born is at its lowest since the 1970s. But as living costs rose dramatically over the past few years, the benefits of being able to split rent, food and bills with a partner multiplied. New analysis has revealed that being single and living alone commands a hefty premium – equivalent to £10 a day, or £3,651 a year.
Income and wealth We calculated this by comparing the incomes and outgoings of 16 to 64-year-olds according to their relationship status, before the impact of marriage or children. Singledom is the most common living arrangement for those at the bottom of the income scale – ordering households by how much money the breadwinner takes home after taxes puts three in 10 single people into the poorest 10pc. The reverse is true for couples, who make up nearly half (46.
5pc) of the richest decile. This earnings disparity has clear knock-on effects when it comes to gaining wealth. Three-quarters (76pc) of those in a couple owned a home, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Less than half of their single friends were likely able to say the same (47pc). In fact, median equity for single households fell to zero in the wake of the financial crisis, and has never recovered. This implies that the average single owner had repaid less than half of their mortgage.
As house prices soared, meeting the standard 4.5 times loan-to-income ratio required by lenders became an increasingly big ask. Buying with a partner has become critical – 62pc of completions in 2024 were in two or more names, according to Halifax, up from 43pc back in 2014.
Couples who have been able to get on to the ladder have profited from the strong housing market. Their median property wealth hit £126,000 when surveyed between 2020 and 2022, up 40pc in a decade. Housing This leaves an outsized proportion of working-age single people at the mercy of the private rental sector.
While first-time buyer prices in Britain increased by 36.3pc between 2015 and 2025, asking rents shot up by 44.6pc, according to the ONS.
Robust wage growth meant rent affordability actually improved between the start of 2017 and mid-2023. But this trend has since reversed, making the advantages of sharing a home more stark. While rent for a one-bedroom property currently takes up over a third of the average income (34.
6pc), a two-bedroom home for two eats up less than a fifth of joint earnings (19.6pc). Couples content to squeeze into one bedroom are twice as well off (17.
3pc)..
