Number renting into middle age doubles in decade

THE number of middle-aged Britons still renting their homes from private landlords has doubled in the past decade.

More than a quarter of those in their late thirties and early forties are now renting.

But the number in the same age group with a mortgage fell from 60 per cent to less than 50 per cent between 2007 and 2017.

The figures from the annual Family Resources Survey reflect the rise in property costs at a time of largely stagnant wages, which made it increasingly difficult for people to get on the property ladder while they are young.

The survey, by the Office for National Statistics and the National Centre for Social Research, called the change in the number who can afford to buy a home ‘significant’ and said the trend began before the recession of 2008.

It found that the proportion of people aged 35 to 44 who rented their homes on the private market went up from 13 per cent in 2007 to 26 per cent last year.

Among those in their late forties and early fifties, the number of those renting privately went up from 8 per cent to 14 per cent. Nearly half in their late twenties and early thirties are renters.

The shift of the young and middle-aged to the rented sector contrasts with rising numbers of older homeowners. Nearly three quarters – 74 per cent – of over65s owned property without a mortgage last year, compared with 67 per cent in 2007.

Paula Higgins, of the HomeOwners Alliance support group, said: ‘People are stretched to the limit and have insecure wages.

‘When they split up, a couple can’t each buy a property in the same area that lets them share the children.

‘The danger of all this is the social inequality it will create between the haves, who are homeowners, and the have-nots.’

The Resolution Foundation thinktank proposed measures last week to strip the older generation of wealth and help the young, with rent controls, more cheap housing, and a one-off benefit payment of £10,000 to all at 25.