Room rents rise 8% in the wake of Tenant Fee Act but seasonal demand decline hits some cities

July 11, 2019

Leading room share platform, ideal flatmate, has released it’s Room Rental Index for the second quarter of 2019, looking at the cost of renting a room across the UK’s major cities.

Ideal flatmate crunched the numbers from more than 29,000 room share listings on its site added between April and June and found that in the second quarter of this year, the average cost of renting a room in the UK has increased by 8%, now at £577 per month.

London remains the most expensive at £783, up 5% since the previous quarter. Cambridge and Oxford are also amongst some of the most expensive at £613 and £588 respectively, both seeing some of the largest quarter to quarter increases at 8-9%.

Liverpool has also seen prices increase 8% on the previous quarter, although at £473 per month, it remains far more affordable.

There has also been notable growth across Sheffield, Newcastle, Leicester, Birmingham and Nottingham since Q1.

However, not everywhere has seen the price of a room increase with both Bournemouth (-13%) and Portsmouth (-10%) seeing a double-digit decline. Having seen strong growth in Q1, Glasgow has seen room rental costs decline by -6% quarter to quarter. Southampton, Leeds, Bristol and Plymouth have also seen the cost of renting a room reduce.

In London, Barking and Dagenham remains the most affordable borough for a room rental at £561, with the City of London the least affordable at £1,140. Havering, Sutton, Harrow, Camden and the City of London have seen the smallest growth in rental costs at 2%, while Lewisham and Kingston have seen the average room rental increase by 10% since Q1.

Co-founder of ideal flatmate, Tom Gatzen, commented:

“A large degree of rental price growth in the second quarter of this year is almost certainly attributed to the introduction of the tenant fee ban. While a positive step towards safeguarding tenants, its implementation has seen many landlords and letting agents opt to increase rents from June onwards which seems to have had a notable impact on rental costs in a short period of time.

However, this hasn’t been the case everywhere and in the room rental space as opposed to the rental market as a whole, seasonal influences can have a big impact on the advertised price.

The highest demand for room rentals tends to come at the start of the year or the start of the summer and traditionally this brings a lull in demand during the second quarter of the year. As a result, we often see prices drop along with demand and this is generally most prominent in coastal and university towns.

No let-up for London room sharers though, as prices continue to increase across the capital with the average cost of a room now some £40 higher on average a month than it was at the start of the year.”

City
Q1 2019
Q2 2019
% Change
London
£745
£783
5%
Cambridge
£562
£613
9%
Oxford
£544
£588
8%
Glasgow
£588
£550
-6%
Edinburgh
£525
£542
3%
Leeds
£548
£522
-5%
Bristol
£534
£512
-4%
Southampton
£546
£512
-6%
Bournemouth
£575
£500
-13%
Manchester
£464
£477
3%
Liverpool
£438
£473
8%
Portsmouth
£515
£465
-10%
Leicester
£441
£463
5%
Sheffield
£428
£454
6%
Nottingham
£412
£430
4%
Cardiff
£399
£412
3%
Plymouth
£401
£389
-3%
Birmingham
£364
£380
4%
Newcastle
£350
£367
5%
Belfast
£270
£275
2%
Aberdeen
£266
£272
2%
UK
£535
£577
8%
Borough
Q1 2019
Q2 2019
% Change
Barking and Dagenham
£541
£561
4%
Havering
£565
£578
2%
Hillingdon
£590
£606
3%
Enfield
£590
£612
4%
Sutton
£600
£613
2%
Bexley
£583
£619
6%
Harrow
£610
£623
2%
Waltham Forest
£626
£653
4%
Bromley
£639
£662
4%
Kingston
£602
£664
10%
Croydon
£632
£669
6%
Redbridge
£627
£669
7%
Newham
£654
£690
6%
Lewisham
£641
£703
10%
Haringey
£668
£712
7%
Barnet
£695
£724
4%
Merton
£701
£744
6%
Greenwich
£700
£750
7%
Ealing
£719
£740
3%
Hounslow
£711
£767
8%
Richmond upon Thames
£725
£788
9%
Brent
£769
£812
6%
Southwark
£794
£830
5%
Lambeth
£796
£831
4%
Hackney
£796
£852
7%
Wandsworth
£811
£862
6%
Tower Hamlets
£798
£865
8%
Islington
£872
£934
7%
Hammersmith and Fulham
£914
£960
5%
Camden
£992
£1,007
2%
Westminster
£1,026
£1,102
7%
Kensington and Chelsea
£1,057
£1,140
8%
City of London
£1,167
£1,190
2%
London
£745
£783
5%

 

Properganda PR

National and local media coverage for property businesses. Journo quotes delivered in minutes.

You May Also Enjoy

Home and Living

Signs of Outdated Wiring in Older Tulsa-Area Homes

Tulsa has a lot of beautiful older homes. Brookside bungalows, Maple Ridge tudors, the postwar neighborhoods that fill out Midtown and East Tulsa. They were built well, but most were built before central air, before microwaves, before two-car households with two laptops and a dozen phone chargers. The electrical systems inside them were designed for…
Read More →
LIVING BY THE SEASIDE 2022
Breaking News

Britain’s seaside price hotspots revealed

New analysis from the UK’s largest property platform Rightmove reveals Britain’s seaside hotspots where prices are rising the fastest Bootle in Merseyside leads the way, with average asking prices up 11% year-on-year, followed by Crosby in Liverpool (+9%) and Penarth in South Glamorgan (+9%) Other coastal locations including Llantwit Major in South Glamorgan (+8%) and Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire (+7%) are also seeing strong price growth Average asking prices are currently 0.3% lower in Great Britain compared to last year, with some seaside hotspots outpacing the…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

Hertfordshire emerges as strongest performing London commuter county

New research from UK Property Development reveals that while London property prices fell by more than -3% in the past year, prices in some of the capital’s surrounding counties have enjoyed positive growth, none more so than the premium commuter county of Hertfordshire.   In the past year, London’s average house price has fallen by…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

Second homes losing appeal among the rich

New Survey Reveals Ongoing Maintenance Is the Biggest Barrier to Second Home Ownership   62% say upkeep and hassle would stop them from buying a second home, even if money were no object   A new survey conducted by luxury co-ownership platform Equity Residences has revealed that the practical realities of owning a second home…
Read More →
Letting Agent Talk

How to build a property portfolio with buy-to-let mortgages

One of the reasons property is such a popular asset choice for investors is that you don’t need to invest all the money yourself; you can leverage funds from the bank. Here’s a very simplistic example of how borrowing via a buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage allows you to multiply your returns versus owning a property all-cash:…
Read More →
Home and Living

2026’s Fastest-Growing Bathroom Trend Is the Wet Room

“Wet rooms have become one of the standout bathroom upgrades of 2026, moving from luxury extra to everyday renovation choice as more homeowners prioritise space, style and easy cleaning. The momentum is only building as spa‑style bathrooms stay in demand.” “Wet rooms used to be a niche request,” says Ant Langston, Marketing Manager at Heat…
Read More →