The proportion of people in the private rented sector in England who expect to be able to buy their own home did not change over the two year period to 2016, the latest official report shows.
The number of private renters aiming to buy stayed at 59% but the proportion of social renters who expected to buy increased from 24% to 27%, a million households, according to the latest English Housing Survey published annually by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
However, the proportion expecting to buy within the next two years was higher among private renters at 25% than among social renters at 18% and among renters not expecting to buy, affordability was cited as the main barrier to home ownership.
In 2015/2016 some 65% of all renters said that affordability was the main barrier to home ownership and the proportion of private renters who said affordability was the main barrier increased from 56% in 2008/2009 to 70% in 2015/2016 while there was no increase among social renters.
Some renters did not expect to purchase a home because they preferred their current housing circumstances with 10% saying they liked it where they were and/or preferred the flexibility of renting (3%).
The overwhelming majority of owner occupiers, 97%, expected to remain in their current tenure in the longer term. Among renters, social renters were more likely to expect to remain in their current tenure at 75% expected to continue to rent in the social sector in the long term, compared with 31% of private renters expecting to remain in the private rented sector.
Private renters were more likely to expect to move into home ownership than social renters. In 2015/2016 some 52% of all private renters expected to be owner occupiers in the long term, compared with 21% of all social renters, broadly comparable to the buying proportion of private and social renters who expect to buy.
There were approximately 1.5 million households containing at least one adult who would like to buy or rent their own accommodation, but could not afford to do so, equating to 7% of all households.
Of those adults who wanted to move out but could not afford to do so, 66% were living as part of households in the owner occupied sector. A further 20% were living as part of households in the social rented sector, and 14% in the private rented sector. Most of these ‘additional adults’ were aged under 35 years and in full or part time work.
Most households that applied for a mortgage, some 70% of households, had it approved, unchanged from 2010/2011. The main reason households did not apply for a mortgage was because they did not think their deposit was large enough, some 47% of renters which has remained consistent since 2010/2011.
