The 45+ age demographic is the fastest growing tenant market, according to flatsharing site SpareRoom.

The website’s data shows that the total number of older flatsharers aged over 45 has increased by more than 700% over the last decade, twice as quickly as those aged 18-44.

Between 2008 and 2018, the number of tenants aged 45-54 using SpareRoom has increased by 640%, while the number of 55-64-year-olds has increased by almost 900% and the number of renters aged 65+ has increased by over 1,800%.

A SpareRoom survey of over 10,000 tenants found that older renters tend to find their accommodation more ‘affordable’, with only a small number expecting to buy a property in the future.

“People think of flatsharing as only a young person’s game, but that’s no longer the case,” says Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom.

“Older flatmates might not be the largest group but they’re by far the fastest growing.”

The flatsharing site says the reasons for a boom in older renters is principally down to affordability.

It says that rising rents are forcing some people to become ‘lifelong renters’, while others are coming back to renting in their 40s and 50s.

To promote its latest data, SpareRoom uses a case study of 70-year-old popstar Gloria Gaynor who still lives with a roommate.