SpareRoom says one in five flatmates believe the pay gap between the highest and lowest earner in their household now exceeds £20,000, as rising rents push more higher earners into shared housing.
The flatshare platform said average UK room rents have climbed to £747 a month after a 30% rise over five years, while 29% of renters say they have missed the chance to live with a friend because of salary differences. The latest figures point to a shared-living market that is no longer just a lower-cost option for younger renters.
For landlords, that matters because the tenant mix in shared housing is changing. HMOs and flatshares are increasingly taking in renters with stronger incomes who might once have rented alone, but that shift also brings sharper expectations around value, bill-splitting and location.
Higher earners are using flatshares to protect disposable income
SpareRoom says the pressure is not only on lower earners. Its latest research found 9% of flatmates think the gap between the highest and lowest salary in their home is more than £30,000, while almost half of flatsharers earn less than the roughly £30,000 annual income the site says is needed to rent an average room affordably.
The company said renters earning more than £50,000 could often afford to live alone, but may choose to share instead to protect savings, stay in better locations or hold onto more disposable income. That makes flatsharing a tactical decision for some households rather than a last resort.
Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom, said rising rents were reshaping who lives in shared homes, with higher earners increasingly deciding that sharing makes more financial sense than renting alone.
This follows Residential Landlord’s recent coverage of London flatshare demand shifting outward as renters searched for lower costs. It also sits alongside Residential Landlord’s wider reporting on rent pressure across the UK, reinforcing the view that affordability pressure is changing both who shares and where they are prepared to live. SpareRoom’s latest analysis is set out in its wage-gap flatshare research.
HMO landlords may gain demand but face a more selective tenant base
For landlords with well-run HMOs, the immediate read-across is positive: demand for shared housing is broadening beyond the usual demographic. But the warning is that higher-income sharers are less likely to tolerate poor condition, weak management or badly split household costs.
There is also a harder point underneath the headline. If renters on stronger salaries are choosing shared homes, that suggests solo renting is becoming less viable for a wider section of the market. That may support occupancy in shared stock, but it is also a sign of how stretched affordability remains across the wider sector.
Investors looking at HMO demand should not just see resilience. They should also see a market becoming more competitive on quality, location and household fit.
Opinion
Shared housing is no longer only where renters start out. It is increasingly where better-paid tenants retreat to when the cost of living alone stops making sense. That should keep demand strong for good HMOs, but it also exposes just how narrow the margin for further rent inflation has become.
