UK renters paying £8 per sq ft, £12 in London – ideal flatmate’s Q3, Room Rental Index

The latest Room Rental Index by ideal flatmate has been released for Q3 2019, looking at the cost of renting a room across the UK’s major cities and each London borough. You can find the full index report attached in pdf form, including current average room rentals, the quarter to quarter change, and the cost per square foot, but for any further comment or info, please get in touch.

The latest index shows that: –

  • The average room rental cost across the UK is £584, up 1% quarter to quarter.

 

  • UK room renters are currently paying £8 per square foot.

 

  • The average room rental cost across London is £813 – the highest of all major UK cities.

 

  • Renting a room in the capital costs an average of £12 per square foot, up from £11 at the start of this year.

 

  • At an average cost of £1,025 a room, per month, Westminster is currently the most expensive London borough – a cost of £15 per square foot.

 

  • Aberdeen is the most affordable UK city in which to rent a room costing just £4 per square foot – an average cost of £268 per month.

 

  • London, Nottingham and Bristol have seen the largest quarterly uplifts in room rental prices, while Havering Lewisham and Hillingdon have seen the biggest increases in cost across the capital.

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

“A mixed bag throughout the third quarter with the cost of renting a room on the up yet again across the majority of UK cities, although some of the more expensive areas of London and the UK have seen the rate of rental growth cool to a degree.

It’s still not clear as to whether the ban on tenant fees has led to a notable increase in rents and if it has, this certainly hasn’t trickled through to the nation’s renters yet.

On the whole, we’re seeing lower rates of rental growth quarter to quarter than we did earlier in the year, but with changes to the tenant fees only impacting new tenancies or renewals, we could be yet to see the widespread surge in rental costs that many are expecting.

While there have been some large uplifts across the nation’s more prominent cities and London’s peripheral boroughs, this increase is more likely to have been driven by tenant demand more than any other factor.”

Properganda PR

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

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

UK Construction Sector Activity Remains Stagnant

Glenigan’s data shows construction sector performance is depressed in a tough socio-economic landscape The value of underlying (under £100 million) work starting on-site during the three months to the end of July declined 11% and fell 29% below last year’s levels. Residential construction starts fell sharply, declining 25% against the preceding three months and dropping…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Seven fire safety myths every business should avoid

Fire safety is one of those responsibilities that often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves – until something goes wrong, that is. For many businesses, compliance has fallen into the trap of being a tick-box exercise that’s centred around annual inspections, manual training exercises, and having the right paperwork in place. And although these are…
Read More
Breaking News

Suzy Lamplugh’s legacy underlines the need to always make lone-worker safety a priority

More than 40 years after estate agent Suzy Lamplugh disappeared while attending a work appointment, her legacy remains a powerful reminder that personal safety must be central to workplace practices. On 28 July 1986, 25-year-old Suzy Lamplugh left her London office for an appointment and never returned. Her disappearance led her parents, Diana and Paul…
Read More
Breaking News

Prime London sellers return to market

The latest analysis from Beham and Reeves has found that the number of homes listed for sale at £2m or above across Prime Central London increased during the second quarter of 2026, although performance continues to vary considerably between the capital’s most prestigious neighbourhoods.   Benham and Reeves analysed current Prime Central London property listings…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

What to know when buying land

The closure of UK Land & Farms (UKLAF) has left a significant gap in the UK’s specialist land market with buyers and sellers now forced to adapt after 18 years of relying on UKLAF as the cornerstone of the industry. As interest in land continues to grow, the company says the closure also serves as…
Read More
Letting Agent Talk

Tenant demand strong, landlord supply shrinking

New RICS data shows tenant demand at its strongest in over a year – while landlord supply keeps shrinking. That’s not bad luck. It’s a trust problem, and it’s fixable. “These numbers should be good news for landlords. Demand is the strongest it’s been in over a year. Instead, they are deciding to head for…
Read More