Another day, another data delve verifying what we already knew to be true: it’s outrageously expensive to rent a room in London. But if you’re one of the fortunate folk who has never had to dip your toe in the murky waters of London’s rental market, you might not know quite how expensive we’re talking – so I’m going to put it simply for you. It’s not for the faint of heart and it’s certainly not for the weak of bank balance.
With the average cost of a room in the capital city having soared to over £1000 a month in the last quarter, I’m starting to slightly regret spending quite so much of my money on flights and flat whites. It’s not all doom and gloom, though, folks. Whilst it’s quite rare to find the words ‘London’ and ‘affordable’ coexisting in a sentence, the flat-share aficionados over at SpareRoom have revealed the corners of the capital that aren’t quite as eye-wateringly expensive as all of the others. And we’re here to point you in their (slightly more affordable) direction.
Having trawled through their rental index data (which is updated quarterly), SpareRoom was able to rank each and every postcode in London based on how much it costs to rent a room there. The data has uncovered that just six postcodes still offer a monthly room-rent average of below £800 – and they are all located in north or east London. The most affordable neighbourhood to rent a room in the city is now officially Manor Park. Over in the E12 area, Londoners can get their hands on an average room for just £752 a month. This is almost half the monthly cost of a room in the most expensive area in London, which is – you guessed it, folks – South Kensington (SW7).
The cheapest places to rent a room in London (as of October 2026):
- Manor Park (E12) – £752 average monthly room rent
- East Ham (E6) – £755 average monthly room rent
- Winchmore Hill (N21) – £761 average monthly room rent
- Forest Gate (E7) – £781 average monthly room rent
- Plaistow (E13) – £789 average monthly room rent
- Lower Edmonton (N9) – £790 average monthly room rent
- South Woodford (E18) – £802 average monthly room rent
- Eltham (SE9) – £810 average monthly room rent
- Chingford (E4) – £812 average monthly room rent
- Thamesmead (SE28) – £822 average monthly room rent
Matt Hutchinson, director at flat-share site SpareRoom, said: “With average rents now into four figures, to affordably rent an average room in a London flatshare people will need a gross salary of at least £40k. That excludes many, including some essential and service workers, and young people starting their careers. Choked supply increases rents, so tumbling rental stock in the capital should concern everyone, as should the absence of any plan to improve the situation. The Government must acknowledge the problem and do everything in its power to encourage and incentivist new supply.”
You can peruse SpareRoom’s full findings here.
