Tenants Pile into House Shares

Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are getting more popular, as tenants look for cheaper rooms in house and flat shares.

The house and flat sharing website SpareRoom.co.uk has revealed that the fastest expanding property type on their site is houses with six or more bedrooms. This is growing in both supply and demand.

Tenants Pile into House Shares

In the last year, there has been a 59% increase in rooms vacant in six or more bedroom homes on SpareRoom, with a further 51% rise in rooms in five-bedroom properties, and 43% more in four-bed houses.

London’s figures are higher still, with rooms in six or more bedroom houses rising by 79%, and another 74% in five-bedroom homes.

In the current economic market, large flat shares are becoming ever popular, due to high living costs and expensive rents.

Across the UK, a room in a two and three-bedroom flat or house shares will cost you £426 a month, whereas four to six-plus bedroom properties cost an average of £397 per month. This saves £348 a year in rent, says SpareRoom.

In London, rent in a two-bedroom flat is £809 per month, while a room in a six-bedroom share is £710, saving you £1,188 a year.

Director of SpareRoom, Matt Hutchinson, explains: “Faced with stubbornly high living costs, jobs uncertainty and, in many cases, reduced incomes, renters are increasingly looking to make savings wherever they can, and sharing a larger property with more people is a simple way to do that. Not only is the rent cheaper, but monthly bills are lower when divided amongst a bigger group, too.

“Landlords can reap higher yields from larger properties and tend to rent by the room in bigger house shares, as it can be difficult to find a big enough group of sharers that will move in al ltogether, unless their property is located in a university town or city and they are targeting the student market.”¹

If you are looking to invest in a larger property, landlords should be wary of HMO licences and whether the local council requires them.

¹ http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/Tenants-in-search-of-cheapest-rents-pile-into-bigger-flatshares