Britain's most sociable housing markets

With half of British people reporting feelings of loneliness, new research from COHO, the HMO management platform, reveals which regions of Great Britain have the largest HMO stock for tenants who are looking to combat isolation by entering the housemate-filled world of shared living.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)*, 50% of British adults describe experiencing feelings of loneliness, with 27% saying it affects them often, always, or some of the time.

Houseshares can be a great way of combating loneliness, especially for people who are relocating to a new city, or embarking on a new chapter of their lives. But COHO’s new research shows that, while some of Britain’s regional rental markets are incredibly sociable, others offer very little in the way of shared living options.

Across Britain, there are currently an estimated 125,677 listings on the rental market. Of these, less than 15,000 (14,926) are HMOs or house shares, equivalent to just 10.8% of the market.

In Yorkshire & Humber, however, an impressive 21.3% of current rental listings are house shares making it the most sociable housing market in Britain.

In the East Midlands, HMOs or house shares account for 19.7% of current rental listings, while in Wales they account for 14% of listings.

Shared living stock levels are also above average in the South West (13.6%), West Midlands (13.4%), North West (12.7%), East of England (12.3%), and North East (11%).

At the other end of sociability spectrum, a measly 2.3% of Scotland’s rental market is made up of shared living properties while in London, which is often assumed to be Britain’s co-living capital due to the city’s incredibly high rent prices, shared rentals account for just 3.4% of the current market.

COHO Founder and CEO, Vann Vogstad, commented:

“We believe that shared living should be a genuinely enriching experience where lasting friendships are formed and people have others around to help shape the inevitable ups and downs of life.

This is a particularly powerful concept when you consider how prevalent feelings of loneliness and isolation have become in our society, not least among young people. COHO is not here to diagnose the state of the nation nor place blame at anyone’s door; only to provide a platform on which renters can find likeminded people to share their home and life with for a brief or long period of time. If you’re moving to a new city, or find your life circumstances suddenly and unexpectedly changed, a shared house can be a lifeline and, I genuinely believe, a transformational experience.

It’s concerning, therefore, to see shared living opportunities so few and far between in some parts of Britain. The more we can do as a society to promote community and connection – big or small – the better chance we have of reducing the levels of loneliness that are currently affecting too many people. That’s why we urge the government and local councils to do more to support and promote shared living within their communities. In particular, we urge councils to stop seeing all HMOs as ‘problem houses’ and instead embrace shared living when it is being delivered by honest, caring professional investors and expert agencies. It’s far too common for councils to use Article 4 to block new HMOs at the planning stage without properly considering the benefits of well-managed shared living.”

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