Renting in Colchester

Average Rent in Colchester: £1,200/mo

Rent in Colchester before the rush.

Median asking rent across 2,834 live Colchester listings on 6 portals from £400/mo, broken down by property size below — plus how rents have moved, where they are highest and lowest, and what landed on the market this week.

Median asking rent

£1,200 /month

2,834 live listings · 6 portals

Median monthly rent in Colchester by property size
Size	Median rent	Listings
Studio	£725/mo	73
1 bed	£850/mo	711
2 bed	£1,200/mo	1,007
3 bed	£1,500/mo	374
4+ bed	£1,850/mo	399
Room (house share)	£634/mo	270

Asking rents from live listings on Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders · Updated 12 September 2026. Weekly prices normalised to monthly.

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Renting in Colchester

What it costs to rent in Colchester

Colchester currently has 2,834 rental properties listed across the portals we track, with a median rent of £1,200 a month. 10 new homes appeared in the past week alone. Among the houses and flats listed, roughly 41% are houses and the rest are flats.

Rents vary sharply by postcode. The most affordable outcode we track is CO1 at around £1,100/mo, while CO6 sits nearer £1,625/mo. For a wider view of where the UK’s cheapest rents are, see our guide to the cheapest cities to rent in the UK.

Dwellio watches Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders for Colchester around the clock — so a new listing reaches your inbox before most renters have refreshed the app. Here’s how our rental alerts work. Looking further afield? You can browse rentals in every UK city.

Rent by property size

Average rent in Colchester by bedrooms

Median monthly asking rent for each property size, from 2,834 live listings across 6 property sites (September 2026).

Average studio rent in Colchester

£725/mo

The median asking rent for a studio in Colchester is £725 a month, 40% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 73 studios currently on the market.

Average rent for a 1-bed flat in Colchester

£850/mo

The median asking rent for a 1-bed home in Colchester is £850 a month, 29% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 711 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 2-bed flat or house in Colchester

£1,200/mo

The median asking rent for a 2-bed home in Colchester is £1,200 a month, in line with the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 1,007 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 3-bed house in Colchester

£1,500/mo

The median asking rent for a 3-bed home in Colchester is £1,500 a month, 25% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 374 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 4-bed house in Colchester

£1,850/mo

The median asking rent for a four-bedroom-plus home in Colchester is £1,850 a month, 54% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 399 listings currently on the market.

Average room rent in Colchester

£634/mo

The median asking rent for a room in a Colchester house share is £634 a month, 47% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 270 rooms currently listed, mostly on SpareRoom and OpenRent.

Medians exclude prices that fail our junk-listing floor. Room rents are per room, not per property.

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Rent trend · ONS PIPR

How Colchester rents have moved

Office for National Statistics Price Index of Private Rents — official monthly average rent across all tenures in Colchester. Latest: £1,196/mo (Jul 26, +2.3% YoY).

Latest

£1,196

Jul 26

Annual

+2.3%

vs last year

5-yr ago

£911

Aug 21

Total change

+31%

since 2021

Source: Office for National Statistics · Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR). Updated monthly with a ~2-month lag. ONS uses Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland — figures may aggregate beyond the city itself.

Affordability · ONS ASHE

What share of Colchester pay goes on rent?

Renters in Colchester spend an estimated 45% of the local median gross salary on rent — based on the ONS Price Index of Private Rents and ASHE Table 8 (2025).

Median rent

£1,196/mo

£14,352/yr

Median pay

£31,589/yr

gross, ASHE 2025

Rent burden

45%

Stretched — above the 30% rent-burden threshold.

0%30% threshold80%

Sources: Office for National Statistics — Price Index of Private Rents (latest month) and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Table 8.7a (median annual gross pay, place of residence). The 30% line is the conventional rent-burden threshold above which housing costs are considered to crowd out other essentials.

Property types

What’s on offer in Colchester

Flats & apartments

1148

52% of listings

Houses

793

36% of listings

Rooms

270

12% of listings

Bungalows

1% of listings

Property mix · houses

Houses to rent in Colchester — what's on the market

Terraced houses make up 47% of the 808 houses currently advertised in Colchester.

Terraced
47%378
Other house
21%167
Semi-detached
20%161
Detached
11%88
Bungalow
2%14

Rent by postcode

Where Colchester rent is highest and lowest

Median monthly rent grouped by outcode across 1,963 live listings in 6 outcodes. Outcodes with fewer than 3 listings are skipped to avoid skew from a single luxury rental.

Most expensive in Colchester

1CO6£1,625/mo14 rentals
2CO7£1,425/mo5 rentals
3CO4£1,300/mo504 rentals

Cheapest in Colchester

1CO1£1,100/mo617 rentals
2CO3£1,150/mo162 rentals
3CO2£1,200/mo609 rentals

Features · Colchester

Garden, parking, and floor area in Colchester

Live signal across 2,834 Colchester rentals scraped from six UK portals. Coverage varies by portal — figures below show the share of listings whose advertiser surfaces the feature.

Garden

80%

of 533 Colchester listings advertise a garden, patio, or terrace.

Parking

92%

of 740 Colchester listings include parking, a driveway, or a garage.

Live from the portals

New rentals in Colchester this week

10 homes came onto the Colchester rental market in the last 7 days across Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders. The freshest are below.

10 new this weekUpdated today

Listings refresh as our scraper picks up new properties for Colchester. Click through to the source portal to enquire.

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Council tax · VOA 2024

Council tax bands across Colchester

Most Colchester homes sit in Band B. The weighted average works out close to Band C–D across 85,980 properties on the council-tax list.

Modal band

most common band

Mean band

3.19

≈ Band C–D

Stock

86k

85,980 properties

A
11%9,570
B
27%22,990
C
25%21,110
D
19%16,080
E
11%9,240
F
5%4,240
G
3%2,580
H
0%160

Source: HM Valuation Office Agency — Council Tax Stock of Properties (CTSOP1.0), extract dated 31 March 2024. Covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate band schemes and aren't included.

Broadband · Ofcom Connected Nations

Broadband coverage across Colchester

63% of Colchester premises can already get full-fibre and 83% can get gigabit speeds — Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage, July 2025.

Full fibre

63%

FTTP-ready premises

Gigabit

83%

≥1Gbit/s available

Superfast

98%

≥30Mbit/s available

Mean speed

440 Mbit/s

bucket-weighted estimate

Full fibre (FTTP)
63%
Gigabit-capable
83%
Superfast (≥30 Mbit/s)
98%

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage by Local Authority (Colchester), July 2025, covering 85,948 premises. Mean download speed is estimated from Ofcom speed-bucket midpoints.

Energy efficiency · DESNZ EPC

EPC ratings for Colchester homes

55% of Colchester homes hold a current EPC in bands A–C — the bands that meet the proposed 2030 minimum energy-efficiency standard for rented stock.

Bands A–C

55%

good energy-efficiency stock

Bands D–G

45%

below the proposed 2030 floor

Certificates

73k

73,154 EPCs

A
1%546
B
17%12,250
C
37%27,150
D
32%23,581
E
10%7,524
F
2%1,707
G
1%396

Source: DESNZ Energy Performance of Buildings register (replacement for opendatacommunities.org), domestic certificates filed under Colchester. Covers England and Wales — Scottish EPCs are held in a separate Scottish register and aren't included.

Schools · GIAS · DfE

State-funded schools near Colchester

10 open state-funded schools sit within one mile of the Colchester centroid. The five closest:

1
The Sixth Form College Colchester
16 plus · Academy 16-19 converter · CO1 1SN
0.21 mi
2
St John's Green Primary School
Primary · Community school · CO2 7HE
0.26 mi
3
St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School, Colchester
Primary · Academy converter · CO1 2QB
0.38 mi
4
North Primary School and Nursery
Primary · Community school · CO1 1RP
0.47 mi
5
St Helena School
Secondary · Academy converter · CO3 3LE
0.49 mi

Source: DfE Get Information About Schools (state-funded extract). Distances are straight-line from each school's postcode to the Colchester centroid. Ofsted ratings were removed from GIAS in January 2025 and aren't available here.

Area safety

Safety in Colchester

Lower Crime Area

Based on the latest police data (September 2026), Colchester has a lower crime rate compared to other UK cities. Across 23 of 23 postcode districts analysed, the median was 50 reported crimes per area. The most common category in Colchester is Anti-social behaviour, accounting for 0% of all incidents.

Crime overview

50 crimes per area (median)
23 of 23 postcode districts covered
Data: September 2026

Most reported

Anti-social behaviour
0% of incidents

Colchester ranks well for renters concerned about neighbourhood safety. Every Dwellio alert includes the area’s crime data so you can compare at a glance.

Data from data.police.uk, updated monthly. Contains public-sector information licensed under OGL v3.0.

Area breakdown

Safety by suburb in Colchester

Street-level crime counts from data.police.uk for July 2026, covering a ~1 mile radius around each suburb centre. Figures are normalised per 1,000 residents so you can compare neighbourhoods fairly.

Stanway has the lowest crime count of the top 5 suburbs in Colchester.

Stanway
Typical for city
Most common: Violent crime (62) · pop. ~11,000
13
per 1k
Mile End
Typical for city
Most common: Violent crime (76) · pop. ~9,000
19
per 1k
Highwoods
Typical for city
Most common: Violent crime (61) · pop. ~10,000
15
per 1k
Shrub End
Higher crime
Most common: Violent crime (143) · pop. ~9,000
35
per 1k
Lexden
Typical for city
Most common: Violent crime (56) · pop. ~6,000
17
per 1k

Suburbs shown are representative populated areas; figures reflect street-level incidents within ~1 mile of each centre. Data from data.police.uk. Contains public-sector information licensed under OGL v3.0.

Where we search

Colchester listings by portal

We watch 6 property sites for rentals in Colchester.

Rightmove

1499

OpenRent

542

OnTheMarket

279

SpareRoom

270

PrimeLocation

177

Leaders

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Frequently asked

Renting in Colchester — your questions answered

How much is rent in Colchester?

The average (median) asking rent in Colchester is £1,200 a month — a 1-bed is £850 and a 2-bed £1,200, based on 2,834 live listings across 6 property portals in Sept 2026.

What is the average studio rent in Colchester?

The median asking rent for a studio in Colchester is £725 a month, 40% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 73 studios currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 1-bed flat in Colchester?

The median asking rent for a 1-bed home in Colchester is £850 a month, 29% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 711 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 2-bed flat or house in Colchester?

The median asking rent for a 2-bed home in Colchester is £1,200 a month, in line with the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 1,007 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 3-bed house in Colchester?

The median asking rent for a 3-bed home in Colchester is £1,500 a month, 25% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 374 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 4-bed house in Colchester?

The median asking rent for a four-bedroom-plus home in Colchester is £1,850 a month, 54% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 399 listings currently on the market.

What is the average room rent in Colchester?

The median asking rent for a room in a Colchester house share is £634 a month, 47% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 270 rooms currently listed, mostly on SpareRoom and OpenRent.

How many rental properties are available in Colchester?

There are currently 2,834 rental properties available in Colchester, with 10 new listings added in the last 7 days.

Is Colchester safe for renters?

Colchester has a lower crime rate compared to other UK cities, with a median of 50 reported crimes per postcode area (September 2026). The most common category is Anti-social behaviour. Data from data.police.uk.

What is the most common crime in Colchester?

The most commonly reported crime category in Colchester is Anti-social behaviour, based on data.police.uk records for September 2026.

Across East of England

Average rent across East of England

How Colchester compares with the other 20 places we track in East of England — median asking rent from live listings, updated September 2026.

Every city, every region, one table: the UK rental index.

Compare across the UK

Average rent in major UK cities

See how Colchester compares with the UK’s largest rental markets — median rents, area data and live alerts for each.

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