Students in Oxford are paying 47 per cent more than the national average for rented accommodation, according to new research.

Figures released show the average weekly rent for students in the city is £77 - compared with a national average of £52.44.

That makes Oxford the third most expensive out of 54 university locations in the country.

Last year the average weekly rent in Oxford was £79, making it the second most expensive place to live.

James Walsh, deputy president and welfare and education officer at Oxford Brookes University Students' Union, said he was not at all surprised by the findings.

"Rent has always been pretty high in Oxford due to its locality close to London," he said.

"Local landlords tend to have a bit of a market hold at the moment, which the university and the students union is working to try to eradicate by getting more students living on campus.

"Many students I know who have come into the advice centre say their student loan just covers their rent. They are having to work part-time just to earn a basic cost of living. There's been an increase in part-time jobs and the amount of hours students are having to work."

A spokesman for the University of Oxford said: "Unusually for most universities we offer all our students at least two years in college-owned accommodation, meaning that the private market prices used for this study refers to at most one year of their studies." She said the cost of college accommodation varied but would still be cheaper than private rented properties, not least because students only pay for their college room during term time.

The research was compiled by Accommodation for Students, based on 14,000 properties featured on its website.

It also reveals that traditional redbrick university towns including Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and Leicester, all had below average rents while places such as Eastbourne, Reading and Winchester are all well above average.

William Berry, co-founder and director of Accommodation for Students, said: "With the Government's policy change in regard to tuition fees, 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."

Oxford University Student Union president Helena Puig Larrauri said: "The fear of debt and financial hardship are already the two main reasons why students are put off from applying to university."