A growing number of people are ‘coming to rely on the private rental sector’

A generation is being priced out of the housing market with homeownership levels set to fall further as younger people are priced out of buying property, leaving them with little alternative but to rent instead, fresh figures reveal.

A new survey of 2,000 UK adults by LetBritain shows that 39% of adults lack the finances required to acquire the type of property that they currently desire, and are therefore forced to rent their home. This figure jumps to almost half - 49% - among those in London, where house prices are typically more expensive than the rest of the country.

The vast majority of renters surveyed ultimately blame the government for not supporting their efforts to get a foot on the property ladder, with 61% insisting that they do not think the existing government is doing enough to help Generation Rent become Generation Buy, while 64% of those questioned, the equivalent of 32.86 million UK adults, feel that life will get worse for tenants over the next five years.

In order to counteract this issue, more than a quarter - 27% - of renters are themselves planning to invest in the buy-to-let sector by investing in a cheaper property in a different part of the country to where they live, in order to supplement their income while not having to compromise on the place where they wish to live. 

This trend was particularly pertinent among Londoners; 42% of people in the capital said they would buy a cheaper property in another part of the UK so they can benefit from the rental income they would accrue without having to leave the capital.

Fareed Nabir, CEO of LetBritain, commented: “With more and more people across the UK coming to rely on the private rental sector, the results of the research are concerning.

“Whilst many renters are working hard to enter the property market, they clearly do not feel the government understands the issues faced by tenants.

“Interestingly, the findings show that Generation Rent is now increasingly looking to buy properties outside of their chosen place of residence so they can still get onto the property ladder without having to sacrifice the location or quality of the property they wish to live in.”

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