[laurieg]

Japan shows an interesting contrast to the UK housing market. In Japan there are many small single occupancy apartments. I rent one right in the middle of a large city for around 300GBP per month. Sharing is almost non-existant outside of families.

Recently however, so called "share houses" have started popping up. They are usually centered around an idea: "English language immersion house", "pet lovers house". You pay a small premium for extra services related to the house.

It seems that most people choose to live alone, and London's house shares are just caused by the economics of the situation.