Changing face of home ownership in England revealed in new survey

Home ownership in England has dropped to its lowest level since the 1980s with young people in particular finding it hard to get on the housing ladders, a new survey shows.

It means that the rental sector has increased and the UK is moving towards a more European style of property market with renting no longer regarded as second best.

According to the latest government English Housing Survey some 71% of house holders owned their own home in 2003, the peak of home ownership. That has now dropped to 65.3% amid predictions it will drop even further.

Of the 14.4 million home owners in England, the largest number are people aged 65 and over, a record 30% at 4.3 million which is more than a million higher than the total number for any other age group.

By comparison, there are just 2.6million owner occupiers in the 35 to 44 age group, and 1.4 million in the 25 to 34 age group.
The private rented sector is now at its highest level since the early 1990s, equalling that of the social rented sector at 3.8 million households. In 2011.2012 some 65% of households were owner occupiers.

The survey also shows that average weekly rents in the private rented sector continued to be well above those in the social rented sector at £164 per week compared with £83. While mean rents have increased in both sectors since 2008/2009, private rented sector rents showed no significant change from 2010/2011.
 
Outright owners, that is those who don’t have a mortgage, were mainly in the older age groups, with 58% of them aged 65 or over, reflecting the likelihood that the majority of this group once had mortgages and had paid them off.
 
Of those owner occupiers buying with a mortgage, some 64% were in the 35 to 54 age range and only 10% of all owner occupiers were aged under 35. Half of all private renters, some 1.9 million, were aged under 35, some 15% aged 16 to 24 and 35% aged 25 to 34.

This is in contrast to the social rented sector, in which only 19% were aged under 35, some 5% aged 16 to 24, and 14% aged 25 to 34. The social rented sector had a much higher proportion of older tenants. Some 29% of social renters were aged 65 or over compared with only 8% of private renters.

In 2011/2012 some 91% of people with mortgages were working, 83% in full time work and 7% in part time work and only 4% were retired. In contrast, 61% of those who owned outright were retired.

The data also shows that those in the private rented sector stay in their homes for the least period of time. Some 32% of private renters had lived in their homes for less than one year, compared with only 3% of owner occupiers and 9% of social renters. Some 61% of owner occupiers and 44% of social renters had been in their home for at least 10 ears, in contrast to just 9% of private renters.

In terms of home buying aspiration some 59% of private renters or 2.2 million households, and 20% of social renters or 763,000 households, stated that they expected to buy a property at some point in the future.

The proportion for social renters has fallen from 23% in 2010/2011. In 2011/2012, more than a third, 37%, of social renters and 12% of private renters said they expected to buy their current home.

Renters who expected to buy a home were also asked how long they thought it would be before they would do so. In 2011/2012, 22% of private renters and 8% of social renters said they expected to buy within two years.
 
In contrast, two thirds, 66%, of social renters and 45% of private renters expecting to buy thought that it would be five years or more before they did so.