Lodgers’ rental costs could revert to 2017 levels if just 1% of the UK’s 26 million spare rooms were rented, according to flat sharing site SpareRoom.

It believes taking in more lodgers could be the solution to the UK’s severe housing shortage and rising rents when, in Q3 2024, the ratio of people looking for rooms in the capital was 3.67, and 3.99 in the rest of the UK.

SpareRoom data shows that between September 2017 and 2023, the number of rooms for rent dropped from 65,000 to just 35,668 - a decline of almost 50%. It says this can be attributed to factors including higher property and council taxes, a reduction in mortgage interest deductions, and stricter licensing, room size, and safety regulations for shared homes.

Tripled

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.

According to ONS, there are approximately 26 million spare rooms in the UK, and if even 1% of those rooms were rented out, it would create enough supply to restore the market to 2017 levels. In theory that would mean rents also return to 2017 levels, when the average room in the UK cost £456.

And with a financial hangover expected in January post-Christmas and New Year, on top of mortgage rates continuing to rise, SpareRoom reckons that taking in lodgers could not only ease demand on renters but could also provide financial respite to struggling homeowners.

Matt Hutchinson (pitured), director at SpareRoom, says with so many empty bedrooms, the UK is 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,” he adds.

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