Fewer leaving mortgaged home ownership

It would be a mistake to think that the growth in mortgaged owner-occupation is just about more people buying their first home. It is also about fewer older households paying off their mortgage debt.

While un-mortgaged owner-occupation is growing, this essentially reflects large increases in the number of households over the age of 65 (despite a significant under-provision of retirement housing). By contrast, the number of those in the 55 to 64 age band who continue to hold a mortgage has risen by 86,000 in the past five years, as the average mortgage term increases.

Continued evidence of undersupply in the private rented sector

There is no doubt that a recent fall in the number of private rented households reflects a swing in numbers of younger households, often under the age of 35, migrating into mortgaged owner-occupation, even though home ownership among the 35–44-year-olds continues to fall.

But it also reflects a fall in the number of new households entering the PRS, given issues of undersupply; an undersupply which sits against the context of a long-term trend of more young people living with their parents and a big increase in overcrowding in the sector.

_{Read the articles within Spotlight: Changing drivers of tenure below.}