Winchester has been highlighted as one of the most expensive places for students to live.

A student-accommodation website reveals that Winchester has the sixth equal highest student rents in the UK, with an average rent of £65 per week, 24% above the national average, Stanmore, Winnall and Highcliffe being the most popular student areas.

According to the site, there is a strong North-South bias. Traditional northern redbrick university towns such as Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and Leicester, all have below-average rents, while Eastbourne, Brighton, Reading and Winchester are all above average.

Edinburgh has the same figure as Winchester.

The website, "Accommodation for Students", lists over 20,000 properties and it includes larger student private housing schemes, such as those provided by student accommodation suppliers, Unite and Jarvis UP, as well as private rented sector properties.

The site, at its peak, attracts over 40,000 student visitors a week and monitors student rents on an ongoing basis.

William Berry, co-founder and director of the website, said: "With the Government's policy change in regard to tuition fees becoming a major new factor in the cost of being a full-time student, in the future the price of accommodation will increasingly be a major cost consideration in students' selection of which universities they will attend.

"We may well see students choosing universities based on the cost of accommodation as much as curricular availability or academic reputation."

Paul Baker, student union president at King Alfred's College, Winchester, said the cost of living in the city was an issue.

He added that his union, along with others in the south, would be pushing for standards living allowance, similar to that which London students receive.

A spokesman for the college said: "It is widely recognised that Winchester is an expensive place to live for students as well as everyone else and the college is sympathetic to this.

"However, the city has a thriving economy that allows students to take on jobs that fit in with their studies and many students decide to stay in the area when they leave the college.

"There is help for students who struggle financially."