Demand for rooms has rocketed in recent months, coinciding with a huge shortage in the number of rooms available in the UK. Unsurprisingly this has resulted in many tenants struggling to find places to rent. In fact, a recent SpareRoom survey of over 6,000 renters found that 96% of Brits are struggling to find accommodation at the moment*. Interestingly, we saw the opposite happen last summer, with landlords desperate to fill empty rooms but tenants reluctant, or simply unable, to move.

The increase in demand has been driven by people coming into the market, rather than moving within it. According to the same poll of over 6,000 renters, many are moving back out of parents’ or friends’ houses, flatsharing after renting on their own or owning a property, and overseas students (and students in general) are starting to return to cities. This results in a lot of people looking for rooms without vacating their current property, putting pressure on the market.

SpareRoom’s research reveals exactly where these people are moving from:

– Another Flatshare – 29%

– Parent’s home – 25%

– Outside UK – 14%

– A friend’s house/flat – 10%

– My own rented properly (not shared with anyone else) – 6%

– Partner’s house/flat – 5%

– Student accommodation – 4%

– A property I own – 1%

– Other – 6%

Flatshare site SpareRoom surveyed over 400 landlords to find out what has caused this drop in supply**.

59% of landlords said they have fewer rooms to fill than this time last year, and almost half (43%) of those with fewer rooms said they’d filled all their rooms and they were now tenanted. But this isn’t the only reason why landlords have less availability currently:

14% aren’t expanding their portfolio due to high house prices
10% aren’t expanding due to uncertainty in the market
9% have sold one or more of their properties
8% can’t develop properties due to a lack of tradespeople or materials
6% are planning on selling up and leaving the market
We asked landlords with fewer rooms which issues were currently affecting them the most – surprisingly the pandemic wasn’t a leading factor. Please see the results below:

Increased legislation – 26%
Fewer tax breaks for Buy to Let – 22%
The threat of further legislation – 22%
Covid affecting their lettings business – 11%
Shortage of tradespeople – 10%
Shortage of building materials – 5%