SpareRoom Property Scraper

Extract structured room and flatshare listings from SpareRoom in a clean, analysis-ready dataset. Collect listing identifiers, listing titles, summaries, geo coordinates, verification signals, media signals, and source links for each result. This is useful for market monitoring, listing intelligence, and rental trend analysis.

Features

• URL input — Run with a SpareRoom search URL or single listing URL.
• Pagination support — Collect across multiple search result pages.
• Detail enrichment — Each listing is enriched with detail-page metadata.
• Incremental output — Search-page batches are pushed as they are processed.
• Auto-healing extraction — Fallback parsing keeps output flowing when page HTML shifts.
• Clean output — Null and empty values are removed from each dataset item.
• Production-friendly defaults — Fast QA-safe defaults with configurable page depth and result count.

Use Cases

Rental Market Tracking

Track how listing volume, verified status, and listing variants change over time in specific areas.

Listing Intelligence

Build datasets for competitive monitoring, lead qualification, and listing quality scoring.

Geo-Aware Analysis

Use latitude and longitude values for map dashboards and neighborhood-level reporting.

Media and Quality Signals

Analyze photo count, verification, and other listing signals to benchmark listing quality.

---

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
url	String	Yes	—	SpareRoom URL (search page or listing page).
results_wanted	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of listings to save.
max_pages	Integer	No	5	Maximum number of search result pages to scan.
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Apify Proxy enabled	Proxy configuration for better reliability.

Input Priority

1. If url is provided, it is used as-is.
2. If url is missing, the run fails with a clear validation error.

---

Output Data

Each dataset item may include:

Field	Type	Description
listing_id	String	SpareRoom listing ID.
title	String	Listing title.
summary	String	Listing summary text.
price	String	Price hint when available.
url	String	Canonical listing URL.
search_url	String	Source search URL used to discover the listing.
listing_type	String	Listing type signal (for example offered/wanted).
listing_variant	String	Listing variant signal (for example live in landlord).
property_type	String	Property type text when available.
is_verified	String	Verification signal from listing metadata.
photo_count	String	Number of photos signal when available.
has_video	String	Video availability signal.
housemates_count	String	Housemate count signal when available.
latitude	String	Latitude value when available.
longitude	String	Longitude value when available.
image_urls	Array	Listing image URLs (trimmed set).
source	String	Source identifier (spareroom).

---

Usage Examples

Search URL Input

{
    "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/?search_id=1434973371&mode=list",
    "results_wanted": 20,
    "max_pages": 5
}

Single Listing URL Input

{
    "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=18218138",
    "results_wanted": 1
}

With Residential Proxies

{
    "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/?search_id=1434973371&mode=list",
    "results_wanted": 50,
    "max_pages": 8,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

---

Sample Output

{
    "listing_id": "18218138",
    "title": "double room in London E4 (E4)",
    "summary": "Rooms for rent in London E4, E4: A bright and spacious double room...",
    "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=18218138",
    "search_url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/?search_id=1434973371&mode=list",
    "listing_type": "offered",
    "listing_variant": "live in landlord",
    "property_type": "4 bed",
    "is_verified": "yes",
    "photo_count": "6",
    "has_video": "no",
    "housemates_count": "4",
    "latitude": "51.608197",
    "longitude": "-0.0134463",
    "source": "spareroom"
}

---

Tips for Best Results

Start Small, Then Scale

Use results_wanted: 20 for quick validation, then increase after checking output quality.

Use Stable Search URLs

For repeatable collection, use known working SpareRoom result URLs with mode=list.

Use Proxies for Reliability

For larger runs, enable Apify Proxy and use residential groups when needed.

Tune Pagination Intentionally

Increase max_pages only when you need wider coverage.

---

Integrations

• Google Sheets — Export and review listing datasets.
• Airtable — Build searchable listing databases.
• Make — Trigger downstream automations.
• Zapier — Push data into CRMs and notifications.
• Webhooks — Send data to your own backend.

Export Formats

• JSON
• CSV
• Excel
• XML

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run it with any SpareRoom URL?

Yes. Search result URLs and single listing URLs are both supported.

Why do some fields differ between listings?

Listings can expose different metadata. The actor only saves available non-empty values.

Does the actor remove empty values?

Yes. Null, undefined, and empty-string values are removed before saving each item.

Is this suitable for scheduled monitoring?

Yes. It is designed for repeatable runs with stable inputs and configurable limits.

---

Support

For issues and feature requests, use the Apify Console issue/support channels.

Resources

• Apify Documentation
• Apify API
• Scheduling Runs

---

Legal Notice

Use this actor only for lawful and legitimate data collection. You are responsible for compliance with website terms, local laws, and any applicable data usage requirements.