Due to the high cost of housing, shared accomodation arrangements become a necessity for an older section of the population.
In 1960, the average house cost £2,530 and the average first-time buyer was 23. Now in London they are 38 and the average property price is £420,000.
Worse still, the average rent for a London home has risen by around 14 per cent in the past year.
Even renting a studio or one-bedder can cost more than £1,000 a month, and that is the average - in central London the sky's the limit.
The consequence is that an additional 23,350 Londoners have been forced onto the flatshare market over the past year, bringing the total who can't afford to rent alone to 653,000. Flatsharing can cut costs by as much as a half and further savings can be made on utilities and council tax.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23992475-forty-and-flatsharing-in-london.doBTW check out the cartoon at the head of the article and see if you notice anything, er "unusual" about it. LOL