High house prices breed a new generation of ‘revolving door’ renters

Almost a million more people in England rent their home than they did five years ago, and new research shows that many of them are stuck in a cycle of short-term lets that leaves them unable to put down roots or plan for the future.

The National Housing Federation has found that private renters are now nine times more likely to have moved in the past year than homeowners, and reveals that more than one in four (28%) private renters feel that they can’t put down roots because they might have to move again soon – rising to almost one third (32%) among renters with children in the household.

The lack of stability that comes with renting is met with the added frustration that most didn’t anticipate they would still be living as a renter at this point in their life. Almost two thirds (63%) of private renters aged 25 – 44 years old said they thought they would have bought their own home by now. Of all private renters, the majority (56%) say that they’ve rented for longer than planned because they have no alternative.

Previous research found that 70% of private renters in England say that they would prefer to own their own home. The National Housing Federation highlights that rising house prices and stagnant wages have left renting from a private landlord the only option for many people.

There are now almost nine million private renters in England – a figure that has increased at the same time as home ownership has been falling for the first time in decades. Over four million households rent from a private landlord and with typical tenancies [6] just 12 months long, this often leads to worry about when the next move will have to take place and if children will have to be uprooted from their friends or schools.

The National Housing Federation is calling for more homes to be built so that young working families can access the stable housing they need, at a price they can genuinely afford.

David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: "With house prices continuing to soar out of reach, and typical deposits for first time buyers hitting £30,000, younger generations are seeing their dream of home-ownership replaced with a life of renting.”

“It’s clear that the younger generation is being let down, and given no alternative but to move from one short-term let to the next, never being able to save enough to buy because their wages are eaten up by rent.

“We’ve found that nearly eight out of 10 people (77%) in England don’t believe any of the main political parties will effectively deal with housing [7], but they still have the chance to put that right. With a bold long term plan for house building our housing crisis is solvable. We need politicians from all sides to commit to ending the housing crisis within a generation.”