Searches by renters on the flat share site SpareRoom has revealed rising interest in suburbia, as well as coastal, commuter and market towns, as more are priced out of major cities and hybrid working endures.

The firm reported at the end of June that Mortlake and Chadwell Heath in suburban London have seen some of the biggest increases in searches, while searches for Ashton-under-Lyne, a well-connected Manchester commuter town near the M60, are up 73% in the past year.

One of the perks of renting with flatmates has been having the option to live in major cities, due to the relative affordability of shared living. However, not a single city features in the top 50 areas for increased interest in the new search data from SpareRoom, which points to flat sharers migrating further out of major cities.

Suburban Mortlake – where a train to Waterloo station takes as little as 23 minutes, and room rents at £825 per month are £157 below the average for London – tops the list for increased searches by renters. Renter searches for Ashton-under-Lyne, which is on the Manchester Metrolink tram network, and has direct rail services to Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool, are up 73%. Average room rents here are £637 per month, compared to £695 per month in Manchester.

Also in the top 50 are Seven Kings, Chadwell Heath, Harrow Weald, Rainham, Caversham, Beaconsfield, Hoddesdon and Harpenden – all serve as commuter hubs into London – while Esher, Chertsey and Stanwell are part of the capital’s commuter belt.

Shawlands and Gosforth are suburbs close to the city centres of Glasgow and Newcastle respectively. Further south, two areas near Bristol city centre feature: Bishopston and Redland. Renting in Redland, an affluent neighbourhood bordering The Downs, would save flatsharers an average £1,908 per year compared to living in central BS1 where rents are £940 per month

Several coastal towns also make the list – including Lowestoft, Morecambe, Barry, Exmouth, South Shields, Leigh-on-Sea, and Shoreham-by-Sea – as well as market towns Cirencester, Saffron Walden, Totnes, Faversham, Daventry and Selby.

Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, comments: “Area search increases are a good gauge of where the rental market is heading. What these are signalling is a migration from city centres to market towns, commuter hubs, suburbs and the seaside. This is partly enabled by hybrid and remote working but is also being driven by a lack of affordable rented accommodation in cities.”

Over 1m people will be priced out of the capital
According to new research commissioned by Dolphin Living, Inner London will need an extra 200,000 workers to support key sectors like healthcare and tourism by 2035. However, with limited housing available to these workers on median incomes the housing crisis threatens to derail the city’s growth.

Housing supply in London is projected to meet only 40% of the Government’s estimate of housing need. If the current mismatch in affordability between housing need and supply continues the situation will be even worse for those on median incomes.  

As the capital’s housing crisis continues, increasing numbers of households will be unable to afford to live in Inner London in ten years’ time, according to the latest research from Dolphin Living and conducted by Savills Research. 

London’s population is expected to exceed 10m by 2035, with a rise of 345,000 people in Inner London alone. With current supply of new homes in London only meeting 40% of estimated need, the affordability crisis is getting worse.

Even if Inner London were to deliver all identified capacity over the next 10 years, 78% of housing will be absorbed by projected household growth rather than improve affordability and mitigate the impact of the housing crisis, says Dolphin Living.

The outcome of this mismatch between need and supply will result in a 43% increase in the number of households who cannot afford to live within Inner London by 2035. Overall, 1.2m households will be priced out of London as a whole.

Olivia Harris, chief executive at Dolphin Living, said: “As of today 900,000 households in London cannot afford market housing that meets their needs, yet don’t qualify for social housing, with Inner London alone accounting for 200,000 of those. In ten years, due to population growth, that figure is expected to increase across Inner London by 43%.”

Jacqui Daly, director at Savills Research, added: “London’s housing crisis is worsening, with those on lower incomes bearing the heaviest burden. There has been a persistent mismatch in the supply and demand of new homes in London. Reduced housebuilding combined with high prices is putting further pressure on already stretched resources and household budgets. Decisive government intervention is needed to support housing demand, and a step-change is essential to create a more affordable and sustainable housing market for Londoners.”