Steep rent rises across the UK have squeezed affordability over the past five years to Q4 2025, with some increasing by more than 50% according to Spareroom.

In the past five years, room rents in Belfast have risen by 53%, Newcastle by 52% and Cardiff by 50% – the highest increases across the UK’s 20 biggest cities. Rents in the Welsh capital hit a record high of £666 per month in Q4 2025.

Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, said: “Flatsharing has long afforded people the opportunity to live in cities, but disproportionate rent increases in recent years have created a barrier to urban living for those at the sharp end of the housing crisis. Affordability has been stretched to breaking point, and it’s even changing the dynamics of shared households. Flatsharers are getting older as younger people are being priced out of the rental market altogether, and suburban housesharing is now increasingly common as more people are priced further out of cities too.”

Rents in many cities, including London and Belfast, are showing signs of stabilisation however in some cities like Liverpool it’s not the case, as room rents have hit a record high of £555 per month and it also seen the biggest year-on-year increase, of 5.5%. 

Today, Bradford (£472) and Hull (£512) offer the cheapest monthly room rents across the top 20 cities but, year on year, rents in Hull are rising 4.5%.