Member Article

Durham is cheapest for student rent

Durham is the cheapest place for students to rent a room in a shared house, new research has shown.

The average monthly rent of £283 in Durham is significantly lower than the rates of £494 in London, while Oxford and Reading are also much higher at £383 a month.

The research, which found the Scottish towns of St Andrew’s (15.4%) and Aberdeen (10.4%) had the biggest increases, was carried out by house share website Spareroom.co.uk.

Company director Matt Hutchinson said: “While average whole property rents in the UK have dropped significantly in the last two years, room rents, and in particular room rents in popular university towns and cities, have performed strongly and held up well against the worsening economic conditions.

“Strong rental growth in university towns and cities is great news for student landlords but bad news for the thousands of students who are faced with the prospect of mounting debt in order to fund themselves through university with no guarantee of a job at the end of their degree.

“Paying rent is probably going to be the largest monthly outlay for most students while they’re at university, but unsurprisingly, most students don’t choose where to study based on how cheap the cost of living will be.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .