SpareRoom says flatshare room supply fell 3.2 percent year on year in Q2 2026, while average room rents hit record highs in six UK regions and in both Wales and Northern Ireland.
The new figures cover the same quarter that the main phase one Renters’ Rights Act reforms took effect. UK average room rents rose to £761 a month, up 0.5 percent on a year earlier, while room supply reversed after three years of growth.
For landlords, the immediate point is that rental pressure has not gone away even though annual growth remains modest on the headline UK figure. Supply is starting to tighten again in the shared-housing market, which matters for investors letting by the room and for landlords watching wider tenant affordability trends.
Supply turns down as six regions reach new highs
SpareRoom said room ads across the UK fell 3.2 percent in the year to Q2 2026, ending a run of annual increases that reached 24.2 percent in Q2 2024 and 8.7 percent in Q2 2025. At the same time, average room rents reached record highs in six of the UK’s nine regions.
The regional pattern was uneven. South West England posted the biggest annual rise at 1.6 percent, while East Anglia saw the strongest three-year increase at 9.9 percent. Northern Ireland recorded the sharpest three-year country-level rise at 12 percent, with Belfast hitting a record £600 a month. Greater London was the only region to post a yearly fall, dipping 0.2 percent.
Matt Hutchinson, director at SpareRoom, said: “Rising rents across the country have to be addressed. The Renters’ Rights Act will improve standards, but it’s only half the job. Unless real action is taken to protect and expand rental supply, tenants will continue to face higher rents, shrinking choice, and even greater pressure in what is an already-stretched market.”
That matters for landlords because the latest release points to a market where demand is still firm enough to keep rents elevated, but affordability limits are becoming more important. In shared housing especially, a falling supply of rooms can support pricing, yet it can also increase pressure on tenants already stretching budgets to stay in work hubs and university cities.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s earlier report on room rent growth stalling as flatshare supply slowed, which suggested the market was cooling rather than resetting. The latest figures point to a sharper issue for landlords: growth in supply has now turned negative again, even as rents keep edging to fresh highs in several regions.
Why landlords should watch the shared market closely
While this is room-rent data rather than whole-property rent data, it still offers a useful read-through for landlords. The flatshare market often shows affordability stress early because it sits at the cheaper end of private renting. If supply is tightening here as well, that suggests budget pressure is still feeding into the wider sector rather than easing.
It also adds to a trend Landlord Knowledge has already tracked in recent SpareRoom coverage on graduate affordability. Even where annual rent growth looks subdued, tenants can still face record cash rents and fewer options. For landlords, that can support occupancy, but it also means pricing discipline matters if the aim is to limit churn and arrears risk.
The original data is available through the SpareRoom Rental Index, which now uses an updated methodology and recalculated historic figures for consistency.
What this means for landlords
- If you let by the room: watch local supply as closely as asking rents, because tightening stock can support occupancy faster than headline national growth suggests.
- If you operate in regional markets: areas such as East Anglia, the South West and Northern Ireland are showing stronger room-rent momentum than the national average.
- Watch for: whether falling flatshare supply feeds into stronger whole-property rent pressure later in 2026.
- Bottom line: room-rent inflation may look modest nationally, but record highs across multiple regions show affordability pressure is still building in parts of the market.
Editor’s view
The useful landlord angle here is not simply that rents are high. It is that supply in one of the cheapest parts of the rented sector has started shrinking again. If that trend sticks, landlords should expect affordability pressure and stock shortages to remain tightly linked through the second half of the year.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 09 July 2026
Sources: SpareRoom
Related reading: Room rent growth stalls as flatshare supply slows
