Room Rents hit record highs across most of urban Britain

Room rents in most major UK urban locations are now at a record high according to flatshare service SpareRoom. 

Some 41 out of the 50 largest towns and cities hit record levels in the early part of this year.  

The market in London saw rents up across all parts of the capital when comparing Q1 2022 with Q1 2021 - East Central up 26 per cent, West Central up 22 per cent and West up 15 per cent. 

The average monthly room rent in London was at £794 in Q1 2022, up 12 per cent on he year and close to tipping over into the £800s. 

The most expensive place to rent a room in the capital in Q1 2022 was SW7 (South Kensington / Knightsbridge) with an average monthly rent of £1,384. This was followed by SW3 (Chelsea) at £1,278 and W1 (West End / Soho) at £1,213. 

The SE2/Abbey Wood location remains the cheapest place to rent a room in London with rents sitting at £567, with SE28/Thamesmead (£586) and SE25/Norwood (£594) not far behind. 

When considering the cheapest areas to rent in the UK, Darlington came in at £380, followed by Bootle (£383) and Bradford (£384). 

Conversely, the most expensive rents outside the capital were found in Twickenham (£714), Kingston Upon Thames (£712) and Barnet (£681). 

Across the UK Sunderland saw the biggest annual increase in room rents, up 19 per cent followed by Belfast (16 per cent) and Glasgow (14 per cent). 

Matt Hutchinson, SpareRoom director, comments: "Rents are climbing across the country and are already reaching record highs in the majority of towns and cities. That’s going to be incredibly unwelcome news for renters, many of whom were already financially stretched and will be wondering how they’ll cope with increased rents, alongside a sharp hike in the cost of living.

“With a substantial proportion of flatsharers having bills included in their rents, this may just be the start. The effects of the price cap rising won’t have kicked in yet and, when the second phase comes into effect in the autumn, just as we’re heading into the colder months, we may well see more records broken.”

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