Edinburgh has the biggest flatshare rent shortfall

Edinburgh’s flatsharers face the biggest gap between what they budget for a room and what landlords are asking, according to SpareRoom.

Edinburgh flatsharers were looking to spend £748 for the average room being advertised at £834, an annual difference of £1,028.

Elsewhere, the typical rent for York’s flatsharers was £693, which is £51 short of the average monthly rent.

Derby’s flatsharers faced almost exactly the same gap, with £530 available against an average rent of £581.

Edinburgh rent gap

Matt Hutchinson, a director of the firm, said: “Edinburgh’s room rental market suffers from the festival effect: prices spike cyclically when demand is heightened in the lead up to and over the summer.

“But it’s also the most expensive city to rent in outside of London, and our data shows many renters just aren’t prepared for, or able to meet, the steep prices in Scotland’s capital.”

He added: “Sizeable affordability gaps in York and Derby put paid to any expectation that rents will be more affordable in the north of the UK.

“Budgets are, of course, relative to earnings and wages are clearly not matching up with rising living costs.”

Room budgets squeezed

Across the UK, average room rents have remained above average budgets since the end of 2022, according to the flatshare site.

Its July survey found that just 15.3% of renters were spending less than 30% of their pay on rent, excluding bills.

More than a third of renters (37.8%), said rent was swallowing over half of their pay.

And for some, the numbers had already forced a decision as 32% said they had moved during the previous year because the rent was unaffordable.

Rent gaps by city

Belfast was next in SpareRoom’s ranking, with renters facing an annual gap of £456 between their budgets and average room rents.

The difference was £429 in Glasgow and £421 in Cardiff, before falling to £346 in Birmingham.

Coventry and Leicester were separated by just £1, with yearly shortfalls of £307 and £306 respectively.

Portsmouth rounded out the top 10 with flatsharers there budgeting £621 a month for a room costing £646 on average, leaving them £304 short over the course of a year.