Just 15 years after the first ‘buy-to-let’ mortgage was marketed in Britain, the number of people in privately-rented accommodation is now greater than those in council and housing association properties combined. This is the first time that has been the case since the 1960s and the long term trends which led to this state of affairs are unlikely to be reversed any time soon.
Young people who feel frozen out of home ownership by high house prices and condemned to pay their landlords’ mortgages on privately-let accommodation had better get used to being part of‘generation rent’.
These are among the main conclusions of a wide-ranging analysis of the housing market by Adrian Coles, director general of the Building Societies Association (BSA), based on raw data from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Mr Coles said: “This historic switch is the result of three very long-acting decisions made by the Thatcher governments of the 1980s. First, the right to buy policy, introduced in 1980, which resulted in the transfer of substantial stock from the social rented to the owner-occupied sector.
“At the same time, that government signalled the end of a substantial house-building role for local authorities, removing any possibility that the sold stock would be replaced by new-build.
“The third reform came later – the deregulation of the private rented sector. That sector had been destroyed by the rent controls and security of tenure measures that were introduced on a ‘temporary’ basis in 1915, providing a strong incentive to landlords to sell their stock, which they steadily did for the next 75 years.”
Then the late 1980s saw the introduction of assured shorthold tenancies, allowing rents to be set at market levels and giving landlords the right to recover their property at the end of the agreed tenancy period. By 1996 the first buy-to-let mortgage, under that name, was marketed by Clydesdale Bank, with Mortgage Express not far behind.
Since then, the percentage of the population in privately-rented accommodation has doubled to 16pc, while the numbers in council and housing association homes have halved to just below that figure – and owner occupation has slipped from a peak of 71pc in 2003 to nearer 67pc today.
Mr Coles commented: “Taking the long view, we can now say that the owner-occupation percentage has shown no growth for the last 20 years.
“A variety of complex factors have increased the costs of becoming an owner-occupier, while the risks faced by over-leveraged borrowers and lenders have also become very apparent.
“These trends are not likely to reverse in the near future. Rather the prospects of slowly rising interest rates, job losses in the public sector, squeezed real personal disposable incomes, and an aversion to debt make a continuation appear much more likely.”
Can it really be true that the British are being weaned off their addiction to bricks and mortar? Not everyone thinks so. David Hollingworth of London & Country Mortgages said: “Continued growth in the rental market will depend on whether there will be a fundamental shift in Britons’ property-owning aspirations. I still think that the property bug has not left them and, if we do see a freeing up of mortgages and more affordable property, then first time buyers will return.”
Rent is, after all, a terrible waste of money from the tenants’ point of view. As pointed out in this space before, credit-fuelled home ownership was a far more effective accelerant for social mobility than any number of government initiatives. Higher deposit requirements and lower owner occupation mean more people who start life with nothing will end with nothing.
By Ian Cowie
Young people who feel frozen out of home ownership by high house prices and condemned to pay their landlords’ mortgages on privately-let accommodation had better get used to being part of‘generation rent’.
These are among the main conclusions of a wide-ranging analysis of the housing market by Adrian Coles, director general of the Building Societies Association (BSA), based on raw data from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Mr Coles said: “This historic switch is the result of three very long-acting decisions made by the Thatcher governments of the 1980s. First, the right to buy policy, introduced in 1980, which resulted in the transfer of substantial stock from the social rented to the owner-occupied sector.
“At the same time, that government signalled the end of a substantial house-building role for local authorities, removing any possibility that the sold stock would be replaced by new-build.
“The third reform came later – the deregulation of the private rented sector. That sector had been destroyed by the rent controls and security of tenure measures that were introduced on a ‘temporary’ basis in 1915, providing a strong incentive to landlords to sell their stock, which they steadily did for the next 75 years.”
Then the late 1980s saw the introduction of assured shorthold tenancies, allowing rents to be set at market levels and giving landlords the right to recover their property at the end of the agreed tenancy period. By 1996 the first buy-to-let mortgage, under that name, was marketed by Clydesdale Bank, with Mortgage Express not far behind.
Since then, the percentage of the population in privately-rented accommodation has doubled to 16pc, while the numbers in council and housing association homes have halved to just below that figure – and owner occupation has slipped from a peak of 71pc in 2003 to nearer 67pc today.
Mr Coles commented: “Taking the long view, we can now say that the owner-occupation percentage has shown no growth for the last 20 years.
“A variety of complex factors have increased the costs of becoming an owner-occupier, while the risks faced by over-leveraged borrowers and lenders have also become very apparent.
“These trends are not likely to reverse in the near future. Rather the prospects of slowly rising interest rates, job losses in the public sector, squeezed real personal disposable incomes, and an aversion to debt make a continuation appear much more likely.”
Can it really be true that the British are being weaned off their addiction to bricks and mortar? Not everyone thinks so. David Hollingworth of London & Country Mortgages said: “Continued growth in the rental market will depend on whether there will be a fundamental shift in Britons’ property-owning aspirations. I still think that the property bug has not left them and, if we do see a freeing up of mortgages and more affordable property, then first time buyers will return.”
Rent is, after all, a terrible waste of money from the tenants’ point of view. As pointed out in this space before, credit-fuelled home ownership was a far more effective accelerant for social mobility than any number of government initiatives. Higher deposit requirements and lower owner occupation mean more people who start life with nothing will end with nothing.
By Ian Cowie
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