Buy to Let Set to Take Over as the New Social Housing

Buy to Let Set to Take Over as the New Social Housing

17:15 PM, 9th February 2012, About 12 years ago

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News Sourced by Property118 News Team


The rise of buy to let is more about the decline of social housing in the UK over recent years, according to the latest housing statistics from the Communities and Local Government Department.

The gap between private and social renting has steadily shrunk from 3 million to just 200,000 over the past 30 years as right-to-buy and lack of funding for building new homes has decimated public sector housing stock.

At the same time, landlords have piled in to buy to let.

The CLG statistics show the social rented sector has 3.8 million households and the private rented sector has mushroomed to 3.6 million in 2010-11 – the proportion is 17.5% of all homes are social housing and 16.5% are private rented properties.

The research also profiles private renters:

    Over half (1.9 million) are under 35, with 16% (582,000) aged 16 to 24 and 36% (1.3 million) aged 25 to 34. Only 8% of private renters are aged 65 or over.

Only 6% of private renters are unemployed

Around 2.7 million (75%) of all private tenants paid a commercial rent and had an assured shorthold tenancy. About 890,000 had other tenancies, while 167,000 did not pay rent as they were housed by family, friends or employers.

Average private sector rents were £160 per week. The report noted that private tenants paying commercial rent who had lived in their home for less than three years were paying average weekly rent of £170 compared to £156 for those resident for three to nine years and £109 for those resident ten years or more.

Around 59% of private renters want to buy their own home – with 22% hoping to do so within two years and 47% expecting to wait five years.

The survey also found private rented homes tended to be more crowded than privately owned properties and more likely to suffer damp problems, mainly because more of the housing stock is older property.

Download the full report English Housing Survey 2010-11


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