What can I save by house sharing?
Whether you’d like to reduce your monthly outgoings or get more value for your money, it’s worth considering what sharing a flat or house could save you each month.
There are various costs associated with setting up, maintaining and then closing down a rented or owned home. Some are one off costs such as a deposit, agent fees, or unblocking a sink and some are regular such as water rates, monthly broadband services and annual insurance, others increase with number of residents/size of property, such as council tax, gas and electricity bills.
So thinking about a typical home and ignoring all other personal and grocery costs – here is a basic illustration per person.
London – Clapham example
| Household Expense | Monthly Costs (For one) |
Shared by two (Per person) |
Shared by three (Per person) |
| 1 bed | £1,307 | n/a | n/a |
| 2 bed | n/a | £1,870 = £935 p.p. |
n/a |
| 3 bed | n/a | n/a | £2,309 =£770 p.p. |
| Council tax | £103 | £55 | £48 |
| Contents insurance | £20 | £10 | £7 |
| Water rates | £70 | £40 | £32 |
| Electricity and Gas | £60 | £35 | £30 |
| Broadband basics | £35 | £18 | £12 |
| SkySports | £30 | £15 | £10 |
Total |
|
£1,108 p.p. Save 30% p.p. |
£902 p.p Save 45% p.p. |
Source: Zoopla indicative current asking rents for Clapham, South London, July 2020
London – Manchester example
| Household Expense | Monthly Costs (For one) |
Shared by two (Per person) |
Shared by three (Per person) |
| 1 bed | £704 | n/a | n/a |
| 2 bed | n/a | £993 = £497 p.p. |
n/a |
| 3 bed | n/a | n/a | £1,269 =£423 p.p. |
| Council tax | £83 | £64 | £48 |
| Contents insurance | £20 | £10 | £7 |
| Water rates | £70 | £40 | £32 |
| Electricity and Gas | £60 | £35 | £30 |
| Broadband basics | £35 | £18 | £12 |
| SkySports | £30 | £15 | £10 |
Total |
|
£688 p.p. Save 32% p.p. |
£568 p.p Save 56% p.p. |
Source: Zoopla indicative current asking rents for Manchester, July 2020
Worth thinking about! You can make this comparison yourself for your area – the economics will probably be very similar.
Looking at the reason for sharing by Cohabitas users, financial reasons (93.8% of people mention this) and social reasons (59.5% mention this) are an important benefit:
Q: What is you main reason for sharing a house?
Source: Cohabitas user registration survey July 2020.
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