There is something slightly misleading about saying:

“The average Peterborough rent is £993.”

Because nobody rents an average house.

You rent a flat in the city centre.

A terrace in Fletton.

A family house in Hampton.

A place in Werrington, Orton, Stanground, Dogsthorpe or somewhere else where the rent depends on what you actually need.

The latest official figures put Peterborough’s average private rent at £993 a month in June.

But break it down by bedrooms and the picture gets much clearer.

One bedroom: £696 a month

Two bedrooms: £878

Three bedrooms: £1,057

Four bedrooms or more: £1,526

So that move from a two-bed to a three-bed is not just “one more bedroom.”

On the averages, it is another £179 every month.

That is £2,148 a year.

And going from three bedrooms to four-plus adds another £469 a month.

For families, that is often where the real rental problem sits.

You may not particularly want a bigger house.

You may simply have reached the point where two children sharing no longer works, somebody works from home, an older parent is staying with you, or the baby has turned the spare room into a necessity rather than a luxury.

The figures also show why conversations about “Peterborough being cheaper than Cambridge” only get you so far.

Cheaper is not the same as cheap.

If the property that fits your household is over £1,000 a month before council tax, energy, broadband, insurance and everything else, the household maths still has to work.

This is exactly the sort of area where Suzanne at Y-US Lettings can add something to Spotlight over the coming months not by telling everybody to rent a particular house, but by explaining what applicants are seeing on the ground.

Which homes go fastest?

What compromises are renters making?

And what should somebody have ready before the right property appears?

If you rent in Peterborough, what are you paying — and what does that actually get you?