A survey released today by unbiased.co.uk found that as many as 2 million homeowners may sell their homes in 2010 and rent instead, as one in eight people say that they ‘no longer aspire to home ownership’.
Not only is that a lot of properties coming on to the market, but also a huge amount of potential tenants looking for the perfect rental property.
According to this article in the Guardian, in 1939 55% of households in Britain were privately renting. By the late 1980s this had shrunk to a low of just 8% as more and more people jumped on the property owning ladder.
Over the last 10 years, private renting has begun to increase again, with 14% of households in the UK being privately rented in 2008.
We can’t say that we’re surprised at the increase in private renting. With deposits to buy a house being an average of 25%, finding the first rung on the property ladder is hard for young adults. Add to that the effects of the recession, levels of personal debt and lack of jobs available to graduates and school leavers, and you can see a generation of people whose only option is to rent.
We’ll be interested to see what effect the rental renaissance will have on property prices and availability.
Has the news made any difference to YOUR plans for 2010? Will you buy more property? Increase rent? Or are you biding your time to see what happens?
Tags: rental property, rents, tenant, tenants
We anticipated this and started projects to provide new and affordable homes in Central London. The people who are only reacting to it now will probably miss the boat.