Home.co.uk has assessed the rise of the UK’s private rental sector in the wake of falling housing stock.
They put the a transformation of tenure in the UK as having been kicked off by the Right to Buy scheme, passed in the Housing Act 1980.
They say that in the last 20 years, the subsequent swing towards private rented sector to the detriment of both public sector housing and the first-time buyer is clear.
In 1991, 23% of stock was public sector dwellings and just 12% of homes were rented privately.
By 2011, the private rented sector had grown to 27% whilst public housing stock accounted for just 8% of dwellings.
Doug Shephard, director, Home.co.uk, said: “Once the UK’s public investment in housing had been largely privatised, the writing was on the wall.
“Landlords, almost always more creditworthy than first-time buyers, effectively remove the stock from the resale market for many years and, at the same time, bloat the private rental market.
"Despite job insecurity and the unforgiving reality of finding a suitable property for lifestyle and budget, the aspiration to own a home remains widely held.
“However, the modern day reality has clearly been made a lot more difficult by the financial crisis and the rise of the private rental sector.”
