Renters are looking for properties in suburbs, coastal areas, and commuter and market cities resulting from being priced out of main cities.
Data from flatshare web site SpareRoom factors to flat-sharers migrating additional out of main cities. It discovered that not a single city options within the prime 50 areas for elevated rental curiosity.
In the previous, the relative affordability of shared residing meant renters had the choice to dwell in main cities.
Where are renters shifting to?
According to SpareRoom, Mortlake in suburban London noticed an 85% rise in renter searches in 2024 in comparison with 2023. A prepare from Mortlake to Waterloo takes as little as 23 minutes, and common room rents stand at £825 monthly – £157 beneath the common for London.
Searches for Ashton-under-Lyne, a well-connected Manchester commuter city close to the M60, have been up 73%. Average room rents listed here are £637 monthly, in comparison with £695 monthly in Manchester.
The variety of renters seeking to dwell in Chadwell Heath, within the London suburbs, have been up 54%; these for Saffron Walden, a market city in Essex, have been up 53%.
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Also within the prime 50 have been Seven Kings, Harrow Weald, Rainham, Caversham, Beaconsfield, Hoddesdon and Harpenden, which all function commuter hubs into London.
Several coastal cities additionally made the record – together with Lowestoft, Morecambe, Barry, Exmouth, South Shields, Leigh-on-Sea, and Shoreham-by-Sea.
A March 2025 survey by SpareRoom of 6,524 flat-sharers discovered three-quarters are actually spending greater than 30% of their take-home pay on hire, and 26% are spending greater than half.
Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom, mentioned: “Area search will increase are a very good gauge of the place the rental market is heading. What these are signalling is a migration from city centres to market cities, commuter hubs, suburbs and the seaside. This is partly enabled by hybrid and distant working, however can also be being pushed by a scarcity of reasonably priced rented lodging in cities.
“Although common room rents in some components of the UK are exhibiting indicators of stabilisation, rents are nonetheless a really great distance from being reasonably priced. The price ticket on city residing is shifting additional out of attain.”
