Renters priced out and in search of more affordable options are fuelling rising demand in suburban and commuter towns, reveals new data from SpareRoom.

The list of locations with the highest rises in flatsharer demand includes Esher, a Surrey commuter town 30-minutes from London Waterloo station.

Esher saw one of the biggest year-on-year increases in demand of 32% and currently has the highest demand in the UK, with 11.2 people searching per room available to rent.

Data found that rising and high demand in Greater London, including Kingston-upon-Thames, Twickenham and Barnet, as well as parts of the South East such as Horsham, are a knock-on effect of average rents in London having risen 37% in five years.

Although London rents have stabilised over the past two years, SpareRoom says there have been no significant decreases.

Data reveals also seven people are now searching per room available in Kilmarnock, which has good commuter links to Glasgow.

The average room rent in 2025 in Kilmarnock was £588 per month, saving the average flatsharer more than £1,000 a year compared to renting in Glasgow, where the average price was £683 per month in 2025.

Meanwhile, demand in Motherwell, to the south east of Glasgow, has risen by a third and in Paisley, to the west of the city, by 16%.

Renters in Liverpool have seen rents rise 40% over the past five years to hit a record high of £555 per month in the last quarter of 2025.

Birkenhead and Widnes are also seeing sharp rises in demand with increases of 33% and 22% respectively.

Widnes now has the third highest demand in the UK with 10.2 people searching per room available to rent.

In the Midlands, areas with some of the highest demand in the UK include West Bromwich where 10.5 people are searching per room. Closely followed by Halesowen (9.8), Smethwick (7.4), Kidderminster (7) and Sutton Coldfield (6.7).

Meanwhile, renter demand in Birmingham has dropped 22% in the past year. There are now 2.8 people searching per room available in the UK’s second-largest city.

SpareRoom director Matt Hutchinson says: “City living was once to flatsharers what suburban living was to families with 2.4 children. But the tides are turning. Given how high rents are now compared to where they were five years ago, people are faced with no choice but to chase affordability. It’s not an urban exodus, but it’s certainly flatshare sprawl.”

“When even flatsharers are turning away from major cities, you know there’s a huge problem with affordability. More renters migrating to cheaper towns puts upward pressure on rents.”

“These towns won’t be affordable much longer and then where do people go? Quite soon renters will simply be out of options. It’s bad for the economy too which relies on a flexible workforce. If people can’t take advantage of new job opportunities, everyone loses.”