According to data in the latest economic review report from the Office of National Statistics the proportion of households who rent their home from a private landlord increased slowly from 6% to 11% in the 20 years between 1988 and 2008, before rising to 16% in 2014.
By contrast, the proportion of households who own their own home increased gradually from 56% to 71% between 1981 and 2008, but fell back to 67% in 2014.
This fall in home ownership, and the marked increase in private renting, have reversed a three decade long trend towards increased home ownership, and partly reflects constrained mortgage lending and the relative performance of house prices and household incomes during the recovery, the report says.
It also points out that this combination of effects has also helped to reduce the fraction of households which own their own home with a mortgage which has fallen from a peak of 43% in 1991 to just 31% in 2014.
While trends in aggregate home ownership have started to reverse in recent years, the impact on sub-groups of the population has been considerably larger. Not only has the number of people choosing to live at home with their parents increased markedly, but patterns of tenure among independent householders have also changed.
The number of young people living in privately rented accommodation has risen markedly, both since the economic downturn and over the past four decades. In 1987, just 9% of those aged 26 to 30 were private renters but rising to 19%, 30% and 39% in 1997, 2007 and 2014 respectively.
Almost one third of those aged 31 to 35 were private renters in 2014, and one in five of those aged 37 to 41 were renters, markedly higher than in 2007.
Much of the recent rise in the incidence of private rentals is reflected in the sharp fall in home ownership and in particular in the lower fraction of mortgagors. The proportion of individuals of all ages living in mortgagor households increased between 1977 and 1987.
Over the following two decades, the proportion of young people in mortgagor households fell, while the mortgagor proportion among those aged between 45 and retirement increased, likely reflecting the maturation of many of the younger householders who were part of the initial wave of house purchases.
The difference between 2007 and 2014 is striking, the report says, pointing out that the prevalence of mortgagors is lower than in 2007 among every age group below 55, and the prevalence of mortgaged home ownership among age groups under 40 is lower than in 1977, before the Right to Buy was introduced.
It indicates that the rise in the incidence of private rentals has been particularly marked among 21 to 25 year olds, increasing from less than 20% in the early 1980s to more than 60% in 2014 with other, early to middle aged groups also experiencing increases. Smaller fractions of these same groups now live in mortgagor households than at any point on record.
In London, spending on rent accounted for 34% of disposable income for private renters in 2014, compared with just 15% in the North East. The South West and South East also have ratios above 25%, while the East Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber and Northern Ireland all have ratios below 20%.
The report explains that to some extent, these figures will reflect relative movements in the prices of renting across regions. Rentals have become notably less affordable in London and the South East in particular, and have become more affordable in the North East and North West.
Alongside the growing incidence and burden of rents, there has been a sharp rise in the proportion of households who own their own home outright. Outright ownership has risen from 23% in 1977 to 32% in 2007, and to 35% in 2014.
This rise is particularly concentrated among those aged 50 and above and the incidence of outright ownership among age groups below this level has changed little over the past four decades, but was higher than previously recorded for those aged 55 to 70 in 2014.
The proportion of older householders living in accommodation which is owned outright has climbed markedly over this period. Fewer than half of those aged 71 to 75 owned their home outright in 1977 but by 2014 it was more than 70%.
