Britain is becoming a nation of renters
Britain is becoming a nation of renters as a massive 50% of tenants believe they won’t own a property at any stage in their lifetime, according to the Safestore Moving and Improving Index. The UK-wide poll also found that 42% of people wanting to get on the property ladder think that their best hope of being able to afford a home is to inherit money or a house itself.
Lack of deposit and the inability to get a mortgage are cited as the main reasons stopping those that don’t currently own a home getting on the property ladder, according to 29% and 17% of respondents respectively.
Peter Gowers, Chief Executive Officer at Safestore commented: “At a time when people are continuing to struggle to make their first step onto the property ladder, we are seeing more and more people moving into rented accommodation. The Safestore Moving and Improving Index shows the extent to which a large proportion of the British population is resigning itself to never owning their own home and believing that their best hope of ownership is through inheritance.
“An increasing number of people renting see self storage as an extra room to store important possessions, which they may not have the space for in their homes.”
The difficulties for people getting on the property ladder is not going unnoticed in the rental sector with 50% of tenants reporting a landlords’ market where demand in their area is high and properties are scarce. 32% of tenants say they move home ‘regularly’ or ‘quite often’ (i.e. rarely staying in a rental property for more than a year or moving every few years respectively), the stress of moving is taking its toll on those that rent.
39% of tenants say the most stressful element of moving between rented properties is the moving process itself (e.g. packing possessions and moving boxes) whilst 17% say the most stressful element of moving is a lack of available and suitable properties.
Those aged 55 and over and those aged 35 to 44 who currently aspire to own a home are most reliant on inheritance to get on the property ladder, according to 57% and 55% of respondents respectively.
Key regional points of interest in the Safestore Moving and Improving Index are:
17% of people in London think selling a property is a good idea at the moment in comparison to just 3% of people in the North East.
8% of people in London say they are ‘optimistic’ about the housing market at present in comparison to only 1% of people in Wales.
15% of people in London say they will move in the next six months in comparison to only 5% of people in the North West.