- The UK's rental supply crisis is at its worst in Sale, Oldbury and Bootle where almost nine people are now searching for every room available to rent.
- Only two cities - Salford and Inverness - feature on the list of areas where more than five renters are searching per room available.
- Demand data points to city living becoming increasingly unaffordable for renters, putting pressure on suburban towns with limited rental supply, and where rent rises since 2019 have been well above the UK average.
The UK's rental supply crisis is now most acute in towns as more renters are priced out of cities, according to Q2 2025 demand data from flatshare site SpareRoom.
Suburban town Sale, within easy reach of Manchester, is seeing the fiercest competition among flatsharers in the whole of the UK, with 8.9 people searching for every room available. The average room rent here is £637 per month, compared to £689 per month in Manchester, a saving of £624 a year.
Second in demand is West Midlands market town Oldbury, linked to Birmingham by a 12-minute train, but where rents - at £531 per month - are £984 per year cheaper than rents in Birmingham (£631pm).
The Merseyside town of Bootle is the cheapest place to rent in the whole of the UK at £456 per month, and it's seeing huge demand among renters with 8.6 people searching per room available.
Those priced out of inner London are driving demand in Twickenham and Aldershot in Surrey where demand is around eight people searching per room available.
Only two cities appear on the list of the highest-demand areas of the UK among renters, further evidence that renting has become so unaffordable in cities, even flatsharers are being driven further out. Demand has more than doubled since 2019 in Oldbury, Aldershot, Paisley, Sutton Coldfield, and Solihull.
However, some towns may soon become unaffordable to flatsharers too. Compare rent increases since 2019 in these highest-demand towns against the average for the whole of the UK (30%) and most have seen higher-than-average rises, with increases in Cannock (69%), St. Helens (65%), and Salford (60%) the highest, and more than double the UK average rent rise.
The table below shows the most in-demand areas of the UK among renters, where more than five people were looking per room available to rent in Q2 2025:
| Area | Avg Monthly Rent Q2 2025 | Avg Monthly Rent Q2 2019 | Rent Change 2019-25 | People Searching per Room Q2 2025 | People Searching per Room Q2 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sale | £637 | £433 | 47% | 8.9 | 9.0 |
| 2 | Oldbury | £531 | £380 | 40% | 8.8 | 3.9 |
| 3 | Bootle | £456 | £351 | 30% | 8.6 | 4.6 |
| 4 | South Shields | £521 | £350 | 49% | 8.5 | 4.6 |
| 5 | Cheadle | £667 | £445 | 50% | 8.4 | 5.7 |
| 6 | Twickenham | £951 | £676 | 41% | 8.3 | 5.9 |
| 7 | Aldershot | £683 | £501 | 36% | 8.0 | 3.8 |
| 8 | Paisley | £548 | £389 | 41% | 7.8 | 3.7 |
| 9 | Margate | £624 | £446 | 40% | 7.7 | 5.6 |
| 10 | Sutton Coldfield | £590 | £456 | 29% | 7.6 | 3.3 |
| 11 | Barnet | £899 | £615 | 46% | 7.5 | 4.3 |
| 12 | Smethwick | £557 | £424 | 31% | 7.3 | 4.5 |
| 13 | Bury | £608 | £436 | 39% | 7.1 | 5.5 |
| 14 | West Bromwich | £522 | £379 | 38% | 6.8 | 6.7 |
| 15 | Farnborough | £656 | £525 | 25% | 6.8 | 3.9 |
| 16 | Waltham Cross | £773 | £597 | 29% | 6.7 | 4.0 |
| 17 | St. Helens | £608 | £369 | 65% | 6.7 | 3.7 |
| 18 | Livingston | £554 | £414 | 34% | 6.6 | 7.4 |
| 19 | Tamworth | £578 | £437 | 32% | 6.6 | 4.6 |
| 20 | Halesowen | £556 | £387 | 44% | 6.6 | 4.6 |
| 21 | Kingston upon Thames | £903 | £653 | 38% | 6.5 | 5.0 |
| 22 | Rochdale | £562 | £413 | 36% | 6.5 | 4.8 |
| 23 | Solihull | £649 | £493 | 32% | 6.4 | 3.2 |
| 24 | Redditch | £533 | £399 | 34% | 6.4 | 3.4 |
| 25 | Southall | £785 | £509 | 54% | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| 26 | Weston Super Mare | £624 | £440 | 42% | 6.1 | 4.1 |
| 27 | Epsom | £802 | £608 | 32% | 6.1 | 4.2 |
| 28 | Salford | £730 | £455 | 60% | 6.0 | 5.4 |
| 29 | Tunbridge Wells | £727 | £544 | 34% | 5.9 | 3.2 |
| 30 | Basingstoke | £656 | £499 | 31% | 5.7 | 3.0 |
| 31 | Great Yarmouth | £557 | £389 | 43% | 5.6 | 5.6 |
| 32 | Dunstable | £624 | £468 | 33% | 5.6 | 4.2 |
| 33 | Bognor Regis | £706 | £471 | 50% | 5.6 | 4.8 |
| 34 | Brentwood | £793 | £605 | 31% | 5.5 | 5.3 |
| 35 | Inverness | £626 | £465 | 35% | 5.5 | 2.8 |
| 36 | Birkenhead | £506 | £382 | 32% | 5.5 | 5.2 |
| 37 | Stevenage | £723 | £486 | 49% | 5.4 | 3.2 |
| 38 | Dudley | £545 | £403 | 35% | 5.4 | 4.2 |
| 39 | Staines | £767 | £571 | 34% | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| 40 | Bolton | £553 | £385 | 44% | 5.3 | 4.1 |
| 41 | Ashford | £667 | £488 | 37% | 5.3 | 3.1 |
| 42 | Ellesmere Port | £578 | £393 | 47% | 5.3 | 2.9 |
| 43 | Fareham | £621 | £478 | 30% | 5.3 | 4.3 |
| 44 | Waterlooville | £648 | £472 | 37% | 5.3 | 3.0 |
| 45 | Cannock | £656 | £389 | 69% | 5.2 | 5.4 |
| 46 | Harlow | £707 | £536 | 32% | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| 47 | Chesterfield | £553 | £399 | 39% | 5.2 | 2.9 |
| 48 | Gateshead | £564 | £398 | 42% | 5.2 | 3.3 |
| 49 | Halifax | £542 | £374 | 45% | 5.1 | 2.6 |
| 50 | Clacton on Sea | £610 | £434 | 41% | 5.1 | 4.2 |
| 51 | Horsham | £756 | £526 | 44% | 5.1 | 3.6 |
| 52 | Stockport | £650 | £451 | 44% | 5.1 | 3.8 |
| Whole of UK | £748 | £576 | 30% | 2.6 | 2.9 |
Zoom out and rental supply across the UK is rising, driven largely by ads - placed by both landlords and agents, and by lodger landlords - for rentals outside of Greater London. However, supply could be impacted by landlords reacting to the Renters' Rights Bill which begins its final stage in the House of Lords on 8 September.
Matt Hutchinson, director of flatshare site SpareRoom, comments: "Across the country, rental supply in the flatshare market is still rising but that doesn't do justice to the picture in suburbia, which is groaning under the weight of demand from renters priced out of city living. When renters reach their ceiling of affordability, there isn't really a choice, they have to move somewhere cheaper. The worry is that demand in these areas is now so high it's inevitable prices will rise, until average rents are similar to those in the city they originally moved out of. And then where do renters go?”