Britain used to be a nation of homeowners, but according to research by property search concierge The Urban Collective, that looks set to change as 29.5% of renters reveal they don’t plan on ever buying a home.
Once a solid investment opportunity and key life milestone, more than half (51%) of renters now view owning their own home as completely out of the realms of possibility, believing that the rungs of the property ladder will be reserved solely for the feet of the elite in just 15 years’ time.
The findings echo to the most recent data from the English Housing Survey which revealed the number of privately rented households has doubled over the past 16 years, from 2 million in 2000 to 4.5 million in 2015/16. In London, privately rented households have risen from 13.6% of all London households in 2003/4 to 28.1% in 2015/16.
Based on The Urban Collective’s research, seven in ten (71%) tenants say the prospect of renting forever would make them ‘unhappy’ with this figure rising to 84% among Londoners, making them the least likely to be content with living as a tenant for the rest of their lives. This figure is unsurprising, as Londoners certainly have the rawest deal when it comes to renting. The age of a first-time buyer in the capital is significantly higher than the rest of the UK at 34, and so tenants in the capital remain on the rental market for much longer than the youngest buyers - roughly 7 years.
Stats suggest the ‘painful’ London rental experience is why the idea of ‘forever rent’ is so unappealing for those in the capital - a third (33%) feel the current rental experience is ‘out of date’ - compared with a fifth (21%) nationwide - and up to one in five (19%) complain they are treated like students by lettings agents, rather than receiving a service that reflects their age or social standing. Staggeringly almost 30,000 London tenants even suspect they have been the victim of ‘lettings fraud’ - where a listing has been posted with fake photos to get tenants through the door - and more than a fifth (22%) have stayed in a property they aren’t happy with, or where the rent has increased, just because they can’t bear to deal with the hassle of moving.
Mayank Mathur, Cofounder of The Urban Collective, said: “Fifteen years ago, renting was a stop gap until people could save enough to buy. Today, owning a home is a long-term goal and in 15 years’ time it might just be an impossible dream. If we’re going to become a nation of ‘forever renters’ then clearly the experience has to improve. No wonder the thought of renting forever makes Brits so unhappy; to date the rental market has been lagging behind the customer service found in other industries and geared towards serving landlords, not the tenants. Having personally experienced this ourselves, we’re trying to prioritise tenants for the first time and revolutionise the rental experience, bringing it into the 21st century.”
