Rents could, in theory, fall if more people let out their spare rooms.

That’s the claim from flatshare website SpareRoom.

It says that September 2017 and 2023 (the latest data available) the number of rooms for rent decreased from 65,000 to just 35,668 – that’s a decline of almost 50%. 

The website suggests this can likely be attributed to several factors, including higher property and council taxes, a reduction in mortgage interest deductions, and stricter licensing, room size, and safety regulations for shared homes. 

But meanwhile, the number of renters looking for a room has almost tripled over ten years, from 70,838 in January 2013 to 227,148 in September 2023.

And as of Q3 2024, the ratio of people looking for rooms in the capital is at 3.67, and the UK-wide average is even higher at 3.99.

SpareRoom says the solution to balancing this supply-and-demand issue? is ‘More Rooms’ and encouragement of people to make in lodgers. 

SpareRoom’s analysis of government data shows that there are approximately 26m spare rooms in the UK – and if even just 1% of those rooms were let out, it would create enough supply to restore the market to 2017 levels. 

It adds that in theory that would mean rents also return to 2017 levels, when the average room in the UK was £456 (Q3 2017). 

Site director Matt Hutchinson says:“With so many empty bedrooms in the UK, we’re missing a trick when it comes to our housing stock. Renting out even a fraction of these currently unoccupied spaces would help both renters and struggling homeowners, easing the extreme imbalance in supply and demand and, ultimately, helping to bring rents down across the country.”