70% of renters say they will never stop trying to get on the housing ladder

96% of current renters still ‘dream of owning a home someday’

Alex Johnson
Monday 05 August 2013 09:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A new poll of 3,000 tenants from Rightmove suggests that homeownership is still very much a priority, even though around 60 per cent of current renters say they are trapped as they would like to buy but cannot afford a property.

A third of these are ‘regressive renters’ who previously owned a property but have returned to the rental sector

Around 96 per cent of those now in rented accommodation still hope to own their own home in the future and 70 per cent of them say they will never stop trying to do so.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst said: "The traditional British love affair with property ownership seems as strong as ever and today’s tenants are so committed to realising their dream of homeownership that most say they’ll never concede defeat. The tricky years since the run on Northern Rock have not deterred them – in fact, they may feel encouraged by a more confident and optimistic mood in the market after years of famine and frustration. Today’s tenants are certainly hungry to be paying off their own mortgage rather than their landlord’s”.

The 60 per cent figure is up from 56 per cent a year ago.

The number of families renting their home has doubled over the past decade, according to the latest Census figures from the Office of National Statistics which suggests that 1 in 5 families in England now rent from a private landlord. At the same time, the proportion of families who own their home has dropped by 13 per cent.

Housing charity Shelter has warned that unless the Government builds more affordable homes to tackle the housing shortage, more families will be forced join ‘generation rent'.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in