State of shared living 2026: The data
We asked the UK about shared living and got over 6,000 responses. Filter the numbers and see it for yourself.
Why people share
responds to filterShared living is where the housing market sends people who can't afford to live alone. Most make it work anyway.
moved in because it was the only affordable option in the area they wanted
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
say they chose shared living, it wasn't a last resort
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
say sharing has saved them money
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
say their shared house feels like a home, not just a place to sleep
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
Life inside
responds to filterThe experience is better than the reputation. One number refuses to move, and we're not hiding it.
rate their overall experience of shared living as good
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
would recommend shared living to others
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
feel safe in their shared house
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
describe their shared house as a peaceful place to live
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
say sharing has had a positive impact on their wellbeing
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
have at some point felt unsafe because of a housemate. The number the sector still has to fix.
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
The housemate lottery
responds to filterTenants say the people matter more than the property. Almost nobody gets to find out who those people are before moving in.
say housemates affect their happiness more than their landlord or agent does
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
had no information about who they'd be living with before moving in
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
wish they'd known more about the other housemates before moving in
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
want more say in who moves into their house
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
would pay more rent to live with compatible housemates
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
What tenants want
responds to filterWe asked sharers to pick their five must-have features from a list of sixteen. These won.
would pay more rent for a house with their must-have features
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
Landlord or agent?
responds to filterTenants with a direct landlord report a better experience than tenants with an agent, on every measure we asked. The share who agree with each statement:
Staying and leaving
responds to filterSharers churn between houses, not out of shared living. Rent aside, everything that would make them stay is within a manager's control.
have no plans to move
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
of those planning to move will go straight into another house share
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
What would make you stay longer?
Year on year
responds to age, gender and city filtersSame questions, same scales, matched bases across our 2025 and 2026 waves. Only movements that survived scrutiny are shown, and year-on-year cuts work one filter at a time.
up 8.2 points
of sharers are aged 30 or over. Among non-students it's now 48.5%.
down 4.8 points
of movers plan to rent alone next. The exit routes are narrowing.
up 3.4 points
would recommend shared living. Satisfaction is edging up.
unchanged
have felt unsafe because of a housemate. One in five, two years running.
The stereotype test
whole sampleShared houses have a reputation. Here's what the people who actually live in them told us.
Who lives in shared houses?
of sharers are working or studying. 64% are employed full-time.
Do they work?
unemployment among sharers, against a national rate of 4.9% (ONS, Feb to Apr 2026). Sharers are less likely to be unemployed than the country as a whole.
Good for the area?
of residents say their shared house is a positive presence in the area they live.
Pets and the Renters' Rights Act
whole sampleThe Act came into force on 1 May 2026. Two months in, pets remain rare in shared houses.
of shared houses have a pet living in them
tenants told us a pet request has been rejected since the Act came into force
would be more likely to choose a shared house that allowed pets
Too few people in this group to report reliably.
The people who've never shared
527 respondents who have never lived in a shared houseTheir barriers aren't the stereotypes. They're bathrooms, privacy and strangers.
have reconsidered shared living because of the cost of renting alone
rule shared living out entirely. Four in five don't.
How we did it
The State of Shared Living 2026 is an online survey of UK renters run by COHO between 7 May and 31 July 2026. We collected 6,713 responses and removed duplicate entries, leaving 6,387 valid responses: 5,145 people currently living in a shared house, 670 who used to, and 572 who never have.
Percentages are based on the people who answered each question. Agreement questions used a four-point scale with no neutral option; "agree" means the top two points. Where a filtered group falls below 50 people for a question, we don't report the number.
Year-on-year comparisons use our 2025 wave (5,748 valid responses) recomputed on the same basis. We only publish trends where the question wording and scale matched across both waves.
