Home ownership in England at 20 year low

The number of people who own their own home in England has fallen to its lowest level since 1991, according to a report commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and released by the British Property Federation (BPF).

The research shows that 67.9% of households currently own their own property. The number of owner occupied households has fallen from 14.8m in 2005-06 to 14.6m in 2008-09. The volume off people living in rental accommodation has increased by one million to just over three million.

Housing in the private rented sector (PRS) has accounted for nearly all household growth over the past decade as it increased from 13.9% of households in 2008 to 14.2% in 2009.
Liz Peace, chief executive, BPF, commented: “We're seeing massive demand for private rented housing in the wake of crippled mortgage markets and soaring levels of people who cannot afford to buy.

“The government must do something to deal with this demand or we will end up with the crisis getting far worse. The number of people living in non-decent homes shows a vital need for new investment and our view is that, with mortgages unavailable to many, this finance will have to come from institutions like pension funds who have large swathes of capital to invest. We should look at the housing models adopted in the USA and Europe where renting is socially acceptable and standards are higher because their governments have embraced professional corporate landlords.”

The BPF are pushing to see a more professional rental market emerge, in order to create greater transparency in the sector and help increase the supply of housing available.

Just 11% of private renters are dissatisfied with their accommodation, compared to 16% of social renters and there are twice as many people in full time work in the PRS as in social renting.

However, it is estimated that around 20 million people in this country reside in below standard housing, otherwise considered 'non decent'.