Homeownership rises for first time in 12 years

The English Housing Survey, published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, shows 14.3 million households were owner-occupiers in 2014/15, equivalent to 63.6% of the population, an increase of 0.3 percentage points on the previous year.  It is the first time the proportion of households in homeownership has increased since 2003, and the first time the number of owner-occupiers has risen since 2004/05.

The figure may give comfort to the Conservative government, which has made homeownership a housing priority with policies including extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants and Starter Homes. The survey research followed measures introduced by the previous coalition government to boost homeownership, including the Help to Buy scheme and increases in Right to Buy discounts for council tenants. The proportion of tenants in the private rented sector fell slightly from 19.4% to 19% of households.

However the figure of 63.6% of households in owner-occupation is still well down on the 70.9% high recorded in 2002/03.

Lucian Cook, head of Savills UK residential research said: “The short term trends shown in the latest English Housing Survey need to be treated with caution, given the reported fall in private renting in 2014-15 follows a particularly large increase in the preceding year. 

“Nonetheless it is a good indicator of longer term trends, such as the widening generational divide of the housing market. Behind the short term volatility, levels of private renting among under 35s are still up by more than 1 million in the past decade.”

Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing pointed out that the average age of first-time buyers has increased from 31 to 33 years in the past decade.

She said: “While the overall decline in home ownership appears to have halted, we need to think about what the future holds, especially for young people struggling to access a decent home at a price they can afford.”  

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