Search data from SpareRoom reveals a growing shift among renters away from major cities towards suburban, coastal, commuter, and market towns. This trend reflects the ongoing challenge of affordability as hybrid working becomes a lasting feature of life.
Suburban locations in London, such as Mortlake and Chadwell Heath, rank among the top three for increased searches. In Greater Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, a commuter town connected by the M60 and rail links to Leeds, Sheffield, and Liverpool, has seen searches rise by 73%.
Renting with flatmates has traditionally offered access to city living through shared costs, but no major city now appears in the top 50 areas where interest is growing, indicating flatsharers are moving further out.
Mortlake leads the list, with room rents averaging £825 per month, which is £157 lower than London’s average. The train journey to Waterloo takes as little as 23 minutes, making it a convenient alternative.
Ashton-under-Lyne offers rooms for around £637 per month, cheaper than Manchester’s average of £695, helping explain its rising popularity.
Other commuter hubs into London making the top 50 include Seven Kings, Chadwell Heath, Harrow Weald, Rainham, Caversham, Beaconsfield, Hoddesdon, and Harpenden. Meanwhile, Esher, Chertsey, and Stanwell lie within the capital’s commuter belt.
Nearby Glasgow and Newcastle, the suburbs of Shawlands and Gosforth are also among the sought-after locations. Close to Bristol city centre, Bishopston and Redland feature on the list. Renting in Redland could save flatsharers nearly £1,908 annually compared to central Bristol (BS1), where rents average £940 per month.
Coastal towns such as Lowestoft, Morecambe, Barry, Exmouth, South Shields, Leigh-on-Sea, and Shoreham-by-Sea also attract increasing interest. Market towns like Cirencester, Saffron Walden, Totnes, Faversham, Daventry, and Selby are among the destinations drawing flatsharers too.
The table below shows the top 10 area search terms with the biggest annual increases among flatsharers, alongside their average monthly room rents:
| Area search term | Increase in searches 2024 vs 2023 | Average monthly room rent (Q1 2025) | |
| 1 | Mortlake | 85.3% | £825 |
| 2 | Ashton-under-lyne | 72.5% | £637 |
| 3 | Chadwell Heath | 54.1% | £760 |
| 4 | Saffron Walden | 53.3% | £675 |
| 5 | Cirencester | 48% | £652 |
| 6 | Redland | 43.9% | £781 |
| 7 | Morecambe | 42.1% | £593 |
| 8 | Strood | 41.4% | £703 |
| 9 | Chertsey | 40.5% | £804 |
| 10 | Redruth | 39.7% | £614 |
A survey by SpareRoom in March 2025 of 6,524 flatsharers found that 75% now spend more than 30% of their take-home pay on rent, and 26% allocate more than half their income to housing.
“Area search increases are a good gauge of where the rental market is heading," comments Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom. "What these are signalling is a migration from city centres to market towns, commuter hubs, suburbs and the seaside.” He adds, “This is partly enabled by hybrid and remote working, but is also being driven by a lack of affordable rented accommodation in cities.
"Although average room rents in some parts of the UK are showing signs of stabilisation, rents are still a very long way from being affordable. The price tag on city living is moving further out of reach.”
