x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.
Graham Awards

TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Room rental market sees demand soar and supply slump

Demand for rooms has rocketed in recent months, coinciding with a huge shortage in the number of rooms available in the UK. 

That’s the headline from the latest survey of some 6,000 room renters by online platform SpareRoom.

It says the increase in demand has been driven by people coming into the market, rather than moving within it. According to the same poll, many are moving back out of parents’ or friends’ houses, flatsharing after renting on their own or owning a property, and overseas students (and students in general) are starting to return to cities. 

Advertisement

SpareRoom’s research reveals exactly where these people are moving from:

- Another Flatshare - 29% 

- Parent’s home - 25%

- Outside UK - 14%

- A friend’s house/flat - 10%

- My own rented properly (not shared with anyone else) - 6%

- Partner’s house/flat - 5%

- Student accommodation - 4%

- A property I own - 1%

- Other - 6%

The platform also surveyed over 400 landlords to find out what has caused this drop in supply.

Some 59 per cent of landlords said they have fewer rooms to fill than this time last year, and almost half of those with fewer rooms said they'd filled all their rooms and they were now tenanted.

But this isn’t the only reason why landlords have less availability currently: 

- 14 per cent aren't expanding their portfolio due to high house prices;

- 10 per cent aren't expanding due to uncertainty in the market;

- Nine per cent have sold one or more of their properties;

- Eight per cent can't develop properties due to a lack of tradespeople or materials;

- Six per cent are planning on selling up and leaving the market.

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

  • icon

    This is the thin edge of the wedge - a few LLs leaving the market, some new tenants entering it and the squeeze meaning less accommodation and higher prices.

    If the Govt announces EPC C that 'few' LLs leaving will become 'more' and perhaps 'many' and the result will be a desperate shortage of rooms & houses.

  • icon

    I think we need a bit longer to see how things really look.
    September was hectic but that's not unusual.
    The rest of 2021 was patchy. At the start of the year it was really hard to let rooms. Rooms that normally go within a few days were empty for 2 or 3 months. The summer trundled along in an unspectacular fashion. September was insane. Very high number of enquiries but a very large number of them didn't seem to have read the advert. The last room I let was about 3 weeks ago and the level of enquiries didn't seem to be much different to normal.

  • icon

    Jo I agree I don't know where they get these figures from the market in the West Midlands north of Birmingham is slow as usual. The thing which I find very strange is I've had to increase my rents and I am doing so by on average 10% on relents, I do not increase rents to existing tenants, and people are paying

    Anyone got surplus tenants please send them to me! I've got plenty of voids which need filling!

    Jim Haliburton
    The HMO Daddy

icon

Please login to comment

MovePal MovePal MovePal
sign up