"The HMO sector is a vital tool in the nation’s battle against the housing drought, but the sector is facing hard battles from two fronts"
- Vann Vogstad - COHO
The latest research from COHO indicates a sharp decline in house share availability across many English cities, despite only a modest shift in tenant demand. The findings have prompted questions about whether HMO landlords are leaving the sector.
COHO’s analysis of house share listings shows that nationally, availability fell by 15.2% between June and September 2025. In some cities, the picture is far more severe. Bradford recorded a 59.1% decline, while Leeds saw stock fall by 55.4%. Manchester was down 33.3%, Brighton 32.9%, Leicester 24.6%, Nottingham 23.7%, and Sheffield 21%.
London was the only city to buck the trend, with stock rising 4.7% over the same period.
Tenant demand for house shares increased slightly, up 3.3% across England. However, this growth was not strong enough to explain the scale of decline in availability. In Bradford, availability fell by almost 60% while demand rose by 14.3%. In Leeds, stock fell by more than half while demand slipped by 1.1%. Sheffield saw the largest fall in demand across the 12 cities, down 3.7%, while its available stock dropped by 21%.
One explanation for the summer-to-autumn decline is the student rental cycle. As the academic year begins, many students secure last-minute housing, particularly in university cities such as Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, and Sheffield. However, this does not fully explain the simultaneous decline in both supply and demand.
Some industry voices point to landlords leaving the HMO sector. Factors may include negative political and media attention, as well as the upcoming Renters’ Rights Bill, which is expected to impose new compliance costs. Others highlight the potential impact of Labour’s proposal to tax rental income, which could be especially challenging for HMO landlords whose income per property is often higher than standard buy-to-let.
“Any data that points towards a declining supply of shared houses should be a real cause for concern on Downing Street,” said Vann Vogstad, founder and CEO of COHO. “The HMO sector is a vital tool in the nation’s battle against the housing drought, but the sector is facing hard battles from two fronts."
“First, there’s the fact that the entire sector is being unfairly maligned on the Right of the political spectrum, placed at the centre of some kind of batty migrant conspiracy theory. We already know that this is causing planning councils to shy away from approving new shared living schemes, but is it now also causing HMO landlords to cut their losses and sell up?"
“Secondly, the incoming Renters’ Rights Bill looks like it is going to be given the green light, full steam ahead, without proper consideration given to the ways in which it disincentivises landlords, again causing many to leave the rental sector."
"Then we’ve got Labour’s proposal of taxing rental income. This, in particular, is going to be a huge blow to HMO landlords whose rental income per property tends to be greater than that of a standard buy-to-let. We can’t be surprised now if swathes of HMO landlords decide that enough is enough and leave the sector altogether."
“If this is indeed happening, there’s no prize for guessing what comes next. Further rental supply shortages which in turn means a massive hike in rent prices. Everybody loses.”
