Last summer there were plenty of rooms on the market and hardly any people looking to move. Now, with lockdown over and most restrictions easing, it's a totally different picture.
Not only are people moving again, London is seeing the mass return of overseas students for the first time in two years. One director of lettings agency Savills recently said “It almost feels like we’ve got two years’ worth of students all wanting to move in September.” Add to that the thousands of young people who moved home for lockdown and are now ready to re-enter the market and it's not really surprising that competition for rooms is fierce right now.
On top of that, supply has dropped compared to last year. That means we've reached a point we very rarely get to - there are currently more ads on SpareRoom from people looking for rooms than there are ads for rooms available. This is only the third time it's happened in the past six years (the last time was 2019). Finding your ideal room might feel a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack at the moment.
The first thing to point out is that it won't last forever. Things always re-balance themselves. But that's probably not much comfort if you're desperately looking for a room right now. The reality is that there's a surge in pent up demand that was always coming. Turns out now is when it's arrived.
That makes it doubly important to get everything you need in place before you start looking. Make sure your finances are ready. Do you have your deposit sorted? Are you totally clear on what your budget is (and whether you might be able to push it if needed)? Can you clear some time for viewings so you can see available rooms as quickly as possible?
The more organised you can be the better. That's always true of course, but never more so than when there's a lot of competition for rooms.
It's also a good idea to message more people than you think you need to. If something sounds promising, don't just sit back and wait - make sure you carry on looking so you've got a backup.
There are rooms out there. At the time of writing this there are almost 33,000 rooms listed on SpareRoom in the UK and over 10,000 in London alone. There are just a lot of people looking at the moment.
If you need to find a room, hit the big orange button to start your search now.