Sharing space saves savvy city-dwellers cash
Gumtree.com, Britain's busiest website for people seeking accommodation, has just announced an increase of 38 per cent in flatshare listings.Additionally, some 19 per cent of lodgers choose not only to share a property, but also share their bedroom with another boarder in order to halve their rent.Tenants have increasingly opted for accommodation measures such as 'couch surfing', which was introduced on Gumtree last summer. Since June, there has been a 120 per cent increase in the number of postings advertising sofas to sleep on in London, with six per cent of males using this alternative. Londoners in particular have taken up the trend of sharing space to save rent money in order to offset the high cost of day-to-day living expenses in the capital. Gumtree reports more listings for cheaper rental solutions in London than in any other UK region.It is due to this range of options catering for all budgets that the average cost of flatsharing in London is actually £50 cheaper per week than other UK cities.Sophy Silver of Gumtree.com commented to FirstRung.com: "Lodgers sharing your home can be an easy way to help curb spiralling costs."She predicted: "With the research indicating that it's become more socially acceptable for young adults to flat share for longer, we expect the 'Room to Let' boom to last for quite a while to come."
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