Room rents in London have fallen by 1% in the last year and now average £982 per month, as many tenants opt to live outside the capital.

New data from SpareRoom’s 2025 rental index for the first quarter shows a similar dip in demand in Birmingham, where rents have dropped 4% amid high demand for rooms in commuter towns, including Smethwick and Solihull.

Rents in regions including the East Midlands, North East, Scotland, West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humberside have shown no change, while rents in Northern Ireland and East Anglia have seen the highest year-on-year rent increases of 5% and 4% respectively.

Among Britain’s 50 largest towns and cities, Blackpool has seen the biggest year-on-year increase in rents, up 9%, followed by Southend-on-Sea, up 6%.

Ipswich, Newcastle and Oxford have all seen 5% increases, while, Bolton, Bradford, Edinburgh, Nottingham have seen rents fall by 3%.

Outside central London, renters in Kingston-upon-Thames fork out the most, where the average rent is £926 per month, while those in Bootle pay the least at £462 per month.

Suburban areas

The flat share site reports that suburban areas are seeing high demand from renters, driven by the relative affordability of areas such as Epsom, Twickenham and Kingston upon Thames.

Matt Hutchinson, of SpareRoom, says major cities such as London and Birmingham have become too expensive and people who have the option to work remotely can live where commutes are longer, but rents are cheaper.

“But zoom out and view the rental market over years, not months, and it’s still trending upwards,” he added.

“What we never see are sustained decreases taking rents down to affordable levels. While there are more people searching for somewhere to live than rooms available, rents will keep heading north.”

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