People who are currently renting and wish to buy in the future are “running a bath with the plug out,” says Hargreaves Lansdown.

The firm comes to this conclusion when considering the increased cost of rent coupled with the rising cost of living.

Hargreaves Lansdown points to Zoopla data showing that rents rose 11% on an annual basis in the first quarter of this year, while inflation is currently running at 9.1%.

The average weekly rental payment is now £198 compared to £174 for the average weekly mortgage payment.

And rents are expected to grow faster than house prices in the next five years.

Last year, the firm surveyed 10,000 people and found that homeowners are twice as likely to rate their finances as “good” or “excellent” than are renters – 43% compared to 18% – and conversely, renters were twice as likely to rate their finances as worse than ‘okay’ – 47% compared to 22%.

And not only are things becoming more expensive, but Hargraves Lansdown opines that people who rent are overall likely to earn less than homeowners do, making it more difficult to save for a rapidly inflating deposit.

Today, 19% of adults in the UK rent privately and 17% are in social rented housing, according to the English Housing Survey.

Of these, 26% aged 35 to 44 rent privately, which is an increase of 18% over the decade, and 16% of the cohort aged 45 to 54 rent privately, along with 11% of peopled aged 55 to 64.

Hargreaves Lansdown senior personal finance analyst Sara Coles comments: “Rent is such a massive drain on our finances that trying to build anything for the future while meeting monthly rental costs is like trying to run a bath with the plug out.

“The cost-of-living crisis has landed us with new, super-charged cash drains. And with more of us renting later in life, it can have a catastrophic impact on our financial resilience.”