With housing prices reaching unprecedented levels in the UK, more middle aged people are becoming lodgers because they have been priced out of the market.
The number of home owners who are taking in a paying lodger has nearly doubled over the last five years, according to research from insurer Liverpool Victoria (LV=).
Until recently, lodging was predominately the remit of students and young adults.
Now on average lodgers are 31 years old, up from 29 just five years ago.
Rocketing property prices and rental costs have convinced, or forced, a growing number of people to give up on the property market and seek alternatives.
Demand is such that rooms advertised for lodgers can shift within a week.
Lodgers might expect to pay in the region of £60 a week, rising to £80 in London, according to the LV= study, depending on the space and facilities on offer.
The study surveyed more than 5,000 home owners and found that 2.7% were renting out a spare room to a lodger, up from just 1.4% in a similar survey in 2009.
LV= urged home owners to review their insurance and not unwittingly invalidate it by taking in lodgers.
