There has been a notable increase in rental demand for houses as tenants rush to upsize, new research shows.

Howsy, the lettings management platform, analysed tenant demand across 22 major UK cities and found that houses are currently more sought-after as more renters generally look to get more space for their money as a growing number of people work from home.

Howsy looked at what proportion of rental properties is being snapped up by tenants and how demand differed between property types. The analysis shows that demand for houses is currently at 29% while demand for flats averages 26%.

Belfast is home to the highest demand for houses at 69%, with Glasgow, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Cardiff also ranking highly.

Demand for houses was also higher than flats in Oxford, Newcastle, Cambridge, London, Leicester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

While the current pandemic is leading this trend for more space both in the home buying and rental markets, flats are still proving more popular than houses in some cities.

Manchester is currently home to the highest demand for flats at 57% with the rental property type also popular in Liverpool at 53%.

Flats are also the most popular property choice in Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Southampton, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Bristol, Swansea and Newport.

Calum Brannan, founder and CEO of Hoswy, said: “There’s no denying that the current pandemic has caused a shift in tenant demand trends as many have looked for more space in the wake of initial lockdown restrictions.

“However, this trend hasn’t quite swept the nation completely and demand for flats and apartments remains robust in a number of major cities.”

Despite the recent increase in demand for houses, Brannan expects to see flats start to prove more popular once more as soon as all the major cities are able to reopen their doors both professionally and socially.

He added: “This will be welcome news for landlords who have seen demand for flats fall and have had to slash rental prices to secure a tenant.”