Cities included London, Manchester and Liverpool, with rents of £794, £531 and £415 respectively. In addition to record-breaking rents the cost of living is also up and energy prices are set to increase again in autumn. As a substantial proportion of flatsharers have bills included in their rents this could well be just the start.
The red-hot rental market in the capital saw rents up across all London regions when comparing Q1 2022 with Q1 2021 - East Central (26%), West Central (22%) and West (15%) saw the biggest increases. The average monthly room rent in London was at £794 in Q1 2022, up 12% YOY and close to tipping over into the £800s.
The London postcodes that saw the biggest increases were W1 (West End/Soho) up 34%, SW3 (Chelsea) up 28% and SW7 (South Kensington / Knightsbridge) up 27%.
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. On the flip side, SE2/Abbey Wood 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.
As always, East London remains the most popular place to rent in London, with the three top spots going to E14 (Canary Wharf/Docklands), E1 (Shoreditch/Whitechapel) and E3 (Bow).
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). Looking at the UK’s top 50 towns and cities, Sunderland saw the biggest increase in room rents, up 19%, followed by Belfast (16%) and Glasgow (14%).
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."
