The UK’s rental squeeze is now hitting suburban towns harder than cities, with new data from SpareRoom showing up to nine tenants chasing every available room. In Sale, Oldbury and Bootle, demand is running well above the UK average, with affordability pressures pushing renters out of cities and into markets where supply is already tight.
Towns under pressure as renters leave cities
Sale, just outside Manchester, tops the list with 8.9 people competing for each available room, despite rents averaging £637 per month — a saving of only £624 a year compared with central Manchester. Oldbury, twelve minutes by train from Birmingham, has seen demand more than double since 2019, with average rents at £531, nearly £1,000 a year cheaper than in Birmingham.
Bootle in Merseyside is currently the cheapest place to rent in the UK at £456 a month, but even here demand has hit 8.6 people per room. Twickenham and Aldershot are also feeling the strain, with around eight renters chasing each listing as Londoners move further out in search of affordability.
Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, explained: “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.”
Rent increases in towns outpace the uk average
SpareRoom’s figures show many of these high-demand towns have seen rental growth far beyond the UK average of 30% since 2019. In Cannock, rents are up a staggering 69%, while St. Helens (65%) and Salford (60%) also recorded hikes more than double the national average.
For landlords, this underlines the opportunities outside core city markets — but also the risks. One landlord in Salford told us: “Yields look better in towns compared to Manchester city centre, but you can’t ignore how quickly rents have jumped. It’s not sustainable for tenants, and if government clamps down further, landlords will face even more pressure to absorb costs.”
While only Salford and Inverness make the top 40 list of high-demand cities, almost every town in the ranking has seen demand rise sharply in the past five years. This signals a structural shift where suburban markets, once considered secondary, are now at the front line of rental supply pressures.
Landlords face uncertainty
Although SpareRoom notes that overall supply is up, much of this is coming from individual lodger landlords and smaller landlords placing ads outside London. Yet this fragile improvement could reverse quickly if policy reforms drive more landlords to exit the market.
The Renters’ Rights Bill enters its final stage in the House of Lords on 8 September, adding fresh uncertainty.
Editor’s view
The SpareRoom data confirms what many landlords already know: affordability ceilings in cities are pushing tenants into towns, fuelling unprecedented competition for limited stock. While this brings higher rents and strong yields in certain areas, it also raises questions about sustainability. If government presses ahead with reforms while costs remain high, landlords could be left carrying the can. Will ministers finally confront the supply issue — or keep playing politics while the towns bear the strain?
