In the second quarter of 2026, average asking rents for flatsharers outpaced average budgets in half of the UK’s 35 biggest cities.
Website SpareRoom says the worst city is Edinburgh, with the average flatsharer having to ‘find’ an extra £1,028 per year to afford to rent an average room in the capital (£834 per month).
In York, asking rents are outpacing budgets by £611 per year, while in Derby room renters will find themselves short by £607 per year.
The table below shows the 10 UK cities with the biggest affordability gaps between average budgets and average rents, based on a long list of 35 cities with the highest flatshare supply in Q2 2026:
| UK cities | Average monthly flatsharer budget Q2 2026 | Average monthly room rent Q2 2026 | Monthly difference budget vs rent | Annual difference budget vs rent | |
| 1 | Edinburgh | £748 | £834 | £86 | £1,028 |
| 2 | York | £693 | £744 | £51 | £611 |
| 3 | Derby | £530 | £581 | £51 | £607 |
| 4 | Belfast | £562 | £600 | £38 | £456 |
| 5 | Glasgow | £640 | £676 | £36 | £429 |
| 6 | Cardiff | £612 | £647 | £35 | £421 |
| 7 | Birmingham | £583 | £612 | £29 | £346 |
| 8 | Coventry | £539 | £565 | £26 | £307 |
| 9 | Leicester | £536 | £561 | £25 | £306 |
| 10 | Portsmouth | £621 | £646 | £25 | £304 |
Although it’s recommended that no more than 30% of a person’s income be spent on housing costs, this is no longer an achievable goal for a majority of flatshare renters.
Just 15.3% of UK renters are spending less than 30% of their pay on rent excluding bills, while 37.8% are spending more than half their pay on rent, according to a July 2026 survey by SpareRoom.
The same study also found that, in the past year, almost a third (32%) of UK renters have been forced to move because their rent was no longer affordable1.
Site director Matt Hutchison says: “Edinburgh’s room rental market suffers from the festival effect: prices spike cyclically when demand is heightened in the lead up to and over the summer. But it’s also the most expensive city to rent in outside of London, and our data shows many renters just aren’t prepared for, or able to meet, the steep prices in Scotland’s capital.
“Sizeable affordability gaps in York and Derby put paid to any expectation that rents will be more affordable in the north of the UK. Budgets are, of course, relative to earnings and wages are clearly not matching up with rising living costs. This is a problem across the whole of the UK.
“For more than three years UK room rents have outstripped budgets, and nothing is being done to protect rental supply and improve affordability.”
