Renting a two bedroom home in Barnet is now unaffordable for families earning less than £50,400, according to new research by Shelter.

The homelessness charity today released research into how much families need to earn to affordably rent a typical two bedroom home.

The research suggested that a Barnet family would need to take home more than £3,340 each month, equivalent to a yearly salary of £50,400.

The typical London household income is less than £35,000 so the charity is warning that growing numbers of families are at crisis point, paying up to half of their income in rent. The research defined affordable rent as that which takes up no more than a third of household income.

Shelter chief executive, Campbell Robb, said: “These findings paint a worrying picture of families across Barnet being stretched to the limit by the high cost of renting, praying they won’t be hit by another rent rise that could tip them over the edge.

“With so many Londoners locked out of home ownership, more and more families have no other option but to rent, but with rents so out of touch with wages some families are spending over half of their income just to keep a roof over their head, leaving little left for food, fuel and other essentials.”