Four tenants are now competing for each rental room in UK, says the website business easyroommate.
It says the number of renters registering to find a room is up by 58% in the last year.
The number of tenants competing for each room to rent is far outstripping the number of rooms being offered, says the flatsharing website.
Jonathan Moore, director of easyroommate, said: “Rental demand has really moved up a gear.
“In rental hotspots like central London, rooms and flats are being let within hours of being advertised. As the cost of renting a whole flat soars, a growing number of frustrated buyers are turning to flatshares as a cheaper alternative while they save for a deposit.”
With the average UK room rent standing at £360 pcm, flatsharers are spending half the amount they would on renting by themselves.
Easyroommate’s analysis of over 50 towns and cities shows that competition for rental rooms has been fiercest in the South-East, with an average of more than 13 potential tenants registering per room in Brighton. Oxford and London also featured in the five cities with the strongest demand per property, with an average of 7.2 and 6.7 tenants competing for each room respectively.
The concentrated demand has pushed up rents in these areas, with the average cost of a room in Brighton 16% above the national average, 19% higher in Cambridge, 11% in Oxford and 44% higher in London.
By contrast, demand is lowest in West Bromwich, where supply actually outweighs demand.
Salford – where the BBC is relocating staff – is perhaps surprisingly in second place for low demand, with one tenant for each room available.
Comments
Meanwhile, landlords are discouraged from creating new houseshares because local authorities are (or may) impose Section 6 notices, requiring landlords to seek a change of planning designation for HMOs (licensed or unlicensed). This is creating a new category of property in-between hotels and private houses, and landlords are afraid that once changed, they will be prevented from converting their properties back to private houses again, because it suits local authorities to create a supply of such properties and force landlords to continue supplying them. Landlords will then be trapped with a property that can only sell as an HMO to another landlord, dramatically lowering the price of the property because the demand is low.
Section 6 notices should contain a *guarantee* that if the owner wishes to convert back to a privately-owned house, either to sell or rent to a family unit, they will be given planning permission.
It should also be free to apply for permission to run an HMO.