5 Home Counties towns where flatshare demand is exploding

Flatshare searches in Waltham Abbey have surged 113% in a year, leading a list of five Home Counties towns where demand from renters fleeing London is rising fastest.

SpareRoom data covering 241 million area search terms shows the number of people looking for rooms in London fell 18% between January 2020 and January 2026, while searches across the rest of the UK rose 11%.

Searches containing the word “London” dropped 14.2% year on year in 2025, with central London postcodes falling by as much as 34.7%. Searches for “Greater London” rose 38.2% over the same period, pointing to renters pushing outward rather than abandoning the capital entirely.

Average room rent in inner London now stands at £978 per month based on Q1 2026 data, 27% higher than the £773 recorded in Q1 2020. Outer London averages £811 per month, while rooms in Waltham Abbey rent for £784 per month on average.

Outer London suburbs are also rising in popularity among sharers. Westernmost borough Hillingdon recorded a 62% increase in searches, with Sudbury up 60%, Enfield up 46%, Ruislip up 40% and Heston up 39%. The shift in interest extends well beyond the inner postcodes that have been priced out of reach for many renters.

Three Home Counties account for most of the surge in commuter belt demand: Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey. The five towns below recorded the highest annual increases in flatsharer searches.

Waltham Abbey, Essex

Searches for the Essex market town climbed 113% in a year, the largest annual increase SpareRoom recorded anywhere in the country. Rooms in Waltham Abbey rent for an average of £784 per month, £194 below the inner London average, and the town sits an hour’s commute from central London by train.

Elsewhere in Essex, Buckhurst Hill searches rose 47%, Southend-on-Sea rose 42% and South Ockendon rose 36%, all on London commuter routes.

Baldock, Hertfordshire

Flatsharer searches for Baldock rose 62%. The town sits on the East Coast Main Line with fast services into London King’s Cross.

Baldock now leads a cluster of Hertfordshire towns where flatshare interest is climbing, with Elstree, Borehamwood and Radlett all reporting search increases of around a third.

Broxbourne, Hertfordshire

Searches for Broxbourne climbed 60%. The Hertfordshire town has direct services to London Liverpool Street and lies just inside the M25. Kings Langley searches rose 28%, and central St Albans searches rose 26%.

Walton-on-Thames, Surrey

Searches for Walton-on-Thames rose 50%. The Surrey town sits 25 minutes from London Waterloo by train. Banstead and Virginia Water also saw searches rise, by 45% and 43% respectively.

Reigate, Surrey

Searches for Reigate climbed 47%, tying with Essex town Buckhurst Hill for fifth place. Reigate has direct rail services to London Bridge and Victoria. Guildford postcodes GU1 and GU2 saw searches rise 33% and 27%.

“Area searches give us a sense of where the market is headed and, in this case, it’s out of inner London and into commuter territory,” said Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom. “Even for those who are happy to share with housemates, it may be just too expensive to live in the capital today after years of rent rises.”

Hutchinson said remote working has made moves further out viable without daily commuting costs. He added that flatsharer demographics are shifting, with younger renters increasingly priced out of the market and older renters continuing to share.

“The stereotype of the young professional housemates living it up in the city is becoming less recognisable,” he said.

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