- Scottish town Kilmarnock has seen the biggest year-on-year rise in demand among renters in the UK; there are now 6.9 people searching for every room available to rent here.
- Surging demand for rentals in Motherwell (+33%), Paisley (+16%) and Kirkcaldy (+22%) is being driven by the housing affordability crisis in Glasgow - where room rents have risen 44% in five years - and Edinburgh, where rents have risen 41% in five years1.
New data from flatshare site SpareRoom reveals renters priced out of Glasgow and in search of more affordable options are fuelling rising demand in suburban and commuter towns.
Kilmarnock - a 40-minute train or bus ride away - has seen demand double year on year among those looking to rent in shared homes, the highest rise in the whole of the UK.
The average room rent in Kilmarnock is £588 per month, saving the average flatsharer more than £1K per year compared to renting in Glasgow. But with almost seven people now searching per room available, rents are very likely to rise, leaving people with nowhere else to go.
Demand in Motherwell, to the south east of Glasgow, has risen by a third and in Paisley by 16%. More than seven people are searching per room available in both these towns, which are considerably cheaper to live in. The average monthly room rent in Motherwell is £509 and in Paisley it's £526, compared to £683 in Glasgow, based on data for the whole of 2025.
Meanwhile, demand in Kirkcaldy, 33 minutes from Edinburgh by train, is up by more than a fifth (+22%).
Renters in major cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh have faced huge increases over the past five years, of 44% and 41% respectively.1 Flatsharing was once concentrated in major cities but sharp increases in rent, coupled with the rise in flexible working, has pushed more people into shared accommodation in towns.
Based on current rents, a gross annual salary of at least £27,600 is needed to rent affordably in Glasgow and £31,120 in Edinburgh, if renters are to keep within the recommended spending threshold of no more than 30% of income on housing costs2. This means many young people just starting out in their careers and low-paid workers are effectively priced out.
Demand is also rising in two of Scotland's more affordable cities to live in, Dundee (+31%) - where the average rent in 2025 was below £600 - and Inverness (+11%). It's a different story in Glasgow, which is seeing no year-on-year demand change, and Edinburgh, where demand has fallen by 14%.
Demand data
SpareRoom analysed renter demand in Q4 2025 in more than 200 of the UK's most popular towns and cities among flatsharers. The table below lists the locations that saw a rise in demand of more than 10% year on year, which include six Scottish towns and cities:
| Country | Town/City | Average monthly room rent Jan-Dec 2025 | Demand Q4 2025 (number of people searching per room available) | Year-on-year demand change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | Kilmarnock | £588 | 6.9 | 100.4% |
| England | Hull | £498 | 3.9 | 70.4% |
| England | Washington | £482 | 6.0 | 36.4% |
| Northern Ireland | Lisburn | £541 | 5.1 | 35.0% |
| England | Birkenhead | £511 | 7.5 | 33.1% |
| Scotland | Motherwell | £509 | 7.4 | 32.7% |
| England | Esher | £767 | 11.2 | 32.0% |
| Scotland | Dundee | £571 | 4.0 | 31.2% |
| England | Carlisle | £568 | 4.1 | 30.5% |
| England | Rochdale | £568 | 9.5 | 28.9% |
| England | Durham | £622 | 2.8 | 26.5% |
| England | Torquay | £591 | 3.9 | 23.0% |
| England | Widnes | £537 | 10.2 | 22.0% |
| Scotland | Kirkcaldy | £541 | 5.0 | 21.8% |
| England | Burnley | £469 | 3.8 | 21.5% |
| Scotland | Paisley | £526 | 7.2 | 16.4% |
| England | Cannock | £637 | 4.7 | 14.3% |
| England | Sheffield | £527 | 2.4 | 13.5% |
| England | Walsall | £534 | 4.5 | 13.2% |
| England | Salford | £716 | 6.3 | 12.4% |
| England | Fareham | £637 | 6.2 | 11.7% |
| England | Horsham | £744 | 6.2 | 11.6% |
| Scotland | Inverness | £623 | 3.6 | 11.4% |
| England | Stockton-on-Tees | £497 | 3.2 | 10.6% |
| England | Middlesbrough | £468 | 3.6 | 10.2% |
Matt Hutchinson, director of flatshare site SpareRoom, comments: “When even flatsharers are turning away from major cities, you know there's a huge problem with affordability. More renters migrating to cheaper towns puts upward pressure on rents. These towns won't be affordable much longer and then where do people go? This is a ticking time bomb. Quite soon renters will simply be out of options. It's bad for the economy too which relies on a flexible workforce. If people can't take advantage of new job opportunities, everyone loses.”