The number of people renting has increased by 3%, from 16.4% in 2009 to 19.4% in 2019, according to a report by Ascend Properties
Homes that are occupied by their owners make up a majority of the England’s property market, but the number of people who rent has increased by 2.4 million in the last decade, new research has showed.
A report by Ascend Properties shows that the number of people renting has increased by 3%, from 16.4% in 2009 to 19.4% in 2019.
While that might not sound like a lot, an increase of 1.02 million dwellings with an average of 2.3 people to a dwelling means there are now an estimated 2,360,495 more people renting in the UK, Ascend said.
Although we remain a nation of homeowners there are signs that this obsession is starting to wane, the report noted.
Managing director of Ascend Properties, Ged McPartlin, said this was due to “issues surrounding housing affordability, with property values continuing to climb at a far higher rate than available earnings, which is causing aspirational homeowners to save for longer in order to get a foot on the ladder.”
He added that there is also a change in attitudes towards renting “and the freedom and flexibility it provides.”
As the build-to-rent sector continues to grow in size, it will become increasingly more likely that residents will opt to remain in the rental sector and we expect to see this increasing rental market share seen over the last decade continue to gather serious pace in the future, he said.
The reliance on rental homes is higher in London where 21.9% of the population live in rented accommodation. Yorkshire and the Humber (19.7%) and the East Midlands (18.8%) are also home to some of the largest rental markets in England.
The South East has seen the smallest increase in the proportion of people renting (0.7%), while the level of homeowners has dropped 0.6%.
