SpareRoom’s Q3 2026 rental index shows Stockport room rents up 10.4% to \u00a3717 a month, above Manchester’s \u00a3685, as UK average room rents hit a record \u00a3769 and supply fell 4.7%.
SpareRoom finds 14 percent of landlords letting to sharers in England have switched to room-only tenancies since the Renters’ Rights Act took effect, with platform data showing flatmate-listed rooms down to 26 percent of supply in Q3 2026.
SpareRoom has called on the Chancellor to lift the £7,500 Rent a Room threshold in this week’s Budget as lodger rooms fell 1.4 percent to 29 percent of flatshare supply.
SpareRoom’s Q3 index puts average UK room rent at a record £769 a month as flatshare supply falls 4.7 percent year on year.
SpareRoom says inner London room supply fell 5 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2026, ending a three-year growth run and tightening pressure across the capital’s shared-housing market.
SpareRoom says 85 percent of renters back rent controls after another year of rent rises, with 32 percent saying they were forced to move in the past year because housing had become unaffordable.
SpareRoom says flatshare room supply fell 3.2 percent in Q2 2026 while room rents hit record highs in six UK regions, sharpening the supply squeeze in shared housing.
SpareRoom says graduates now need about £39,000 a year to keep an average inner London room within the usual 30 percent affordability rule.
