Room rents are now at record highs across most of the UK, and the supply of the rental market’s most affordable accommodation – rooms in flat and house shares – is falling 4.7% year on year.
The data comes from flat share website SpareRoom.
By region, South West England has seen the biggest year-on-year rent rise (+2.3%) and room rents have hit record levels in all regions apart from Greater London and North East England. The table below shows average room rents by region:
| Ave monthly room rent Q3 2026 | Ave monthly room rent Q3 2025 | Year-on-year rent change | |
| South West England | £689* | £673 | 2.3% |
| East Midlands | £576* | £566 | 1.8% |
| East Anglia | £687* | £679 | 1.2% |
| South East England | £709* | £701 | 1.2% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | £569* | £564 | 1.0% |
| West Midlands | £594* | £590 | 0.6% |
| Greater London | £932 | £926 | 0.6% |
| North West England | £618* | £614 | 0.6% |
| North East England | £554 | £554 | -0.1% |
| Whole of UK | £769* | £762 | 1.0% |
*highest average room rent on record
By country, the biggest year-on-year rent rise in Q3 was seen in Northern Ireland (+7%), as increases in Belfast (+6.8%) outpaced other UK cities. The table below shows average room rents by country:
| Ave monthly room rent Q3 2026 | Ave monthly room rent Q3 2025 | Year-on-year rent change | |
| England | £775* | £768 | 1.0% |
| Scotland | £726* | £718 | 1.1% |
| Northern Ireland | £600* | £560 | 7.0% |
| Wales | £593 | £588 | 0.9% |
*highest average room rent on record
The table below shows how rents have changed in the 30 UK cities with the highest levels of flatshare supply in Q3 2026.
In Exeter, a shortage of on-campus accommodation saw demand for rooms in flatshares soar by 79% year on year – higher than any other city in the UK – pushing up rents by 4.5% on the previous year.
| City | Ave monthly room rent Q3 2026 | Ave monthly room rent Q3 2025 | Year-on-year rent change | |
| 1 | Belfast | £624 | £585 | 6.8% |
| 2 | Exeter | £681 | £651 | 4.5% |
| 3 | Derby | £594 | £577 | 2.9% |
| 4 | Edinburgh | £894 | £871 | 2.7% |
| 5 | Coventry | £571 | £556 | 2.7% |
| 6 | Colchester | £639 | £626 | 2.1% |
| 7 | Oxford | £834 | £818 | 2.0% |
| 8 | Norwich | £615 | £604 | 1.8% |
| 9 | Plymouth | £588 | £577 | 1.8% |
| 10 | Milton Keynes | £694 | £683 | 1.7% |
| 11 | Bristol | £746 | £734 | 1.7% |
| 12 | Liverpool | £554 | £546 | 1.6% |
| 13 | Nottingham | £588 | £580 | 1.5% |
| 14 | Sheffield | £540 | £533 | 1.2% |
| 15 | London (Inner) | £1,002 | £990 | 1.1% |
| 16 | Leicester | £574 | £568 | 1.1% |
| 17 | York | £750 | £744 | 0.8% |
| 18 | Southampton | £663 | £658 | 0.8% |
| 19 | Leeds | £578 | £574 | 0.7% |
| 20 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne | £604 | £601 | 0.4% |
| 21 | Cambridge | £792 | £790 | 0.4% |
| 22 | Glasgow | £692 | £692 | 0.0% |
| 23 | Peterborough | £593 | £596 | -0.6% |
| 24 | Lincoln | £515 | £520 | -1.0% |
| 25 | Brighton & Hove | £762 | £771 | -1.2% |
| 26 | Birmingham | £614 | £622 | -1.4% |
| 27 | Cardiff | £650 | £659 | -1.4% |
| 28 | Salford | £693 | £708 | -2.0% |
| 29 | Manchester | £685 | £699 | -2.1% |
| 30 | Swansea | £525 | £544 | -3.6% |
Meanwhile, YOY flatshare supply has entered negative growth. Room ads decreased by 4.7% in the year to Q3, ending a three-year growth run, as shown the table below:
| Quarter | YOY change UK room rental supply |
| Q3 2026 | -4.7% |
| Q3 2025 | +8.2% |
| Q3 2024 | +20.1% |
| Q3 2023 | +19.4% |
A SpareRoom spokesperson says:“Those navigating the rental market today will find they’re faced with inflated prices and shrinking supply. The pressure is coming from several directions. Supply is down because the Renters’ Rights Act has driven away landlords in England. Some feel the investment opportunity is no longer worth the effort of compliance. Plus, councils across the country are cracking down on HMOs when the need for affordable rooms has rarely been more urgent. Rents are rising, not just because supply is down, but also because a knock-on effect of banning bidding wars is that asking rents are being set higher.
“Affordable housing is supposed to be a political priority, yet the outlook for meaningful improvement is bleak as the Government hasn’t yet acknowledged these problems in the rental market. The Renters’ Rights Act is a solid step in terms of tenant security, but there has to be a second push to tackle affordability, otherwise renters end up in secure tenancies they still can’t afford.”
