March 1, 2011
Rental Sector Booms
Almost one in six residential properties now rent privately, making the private renting sector a growing and vital component of the UK housing market, according to a new report.
The Communities and Local Government’s English Housing Report, shows that the number of households renting privately has risen by one million since 2005/06, from 2.4 million to 3.4 million in 2009/10.
It means that the Private Rented Sector now accounts for 15.6% of all households in England, up from 14.2% in 2008/09 and 11.7% in 2005/06. The figures also show that there has been a decrease in the number of owner occupied households from a peak of 14.8 million in 2005/06 to 14.5 million in 2009/10.
The proportion of households in owner occupation has been in decline since 2003, falling from 70.9% to 67.4% during the period. And the proportion of social renting households is also in decline, falling from 19.5% in 2001 to 17.0% in 2009/10.
Overall, social sector homes were in better condition than private sector homes. In percentage terms, the number of non-decent homes in the private rented sector has fallen from 46.8% in 2006 to 40.8%.
Some 60% of all private rented households are living in decent homes, up from 56% in 2008, whilst the energy efficiency of homes in the private rented sector has improved more over the period than the owner occupied sector
