Lack of mortgages and increase in buy to let investors leads to increase in private renting

Over the past few years the mortgage lending market in the UK has become increasingly subdued, and whilst the recession may now be over and the economy on its way to recovery many people are still struggling to get a mortgage loan unless they have a very sizeable deposit to put down. At the same time the number of buy to let investors is said to have increased, which means that there is a rising number of buy to let properties on the market.

A combination of these factors is said to be affecting the number of people that are in private rented accommodation, and according to recent reports the number of people that are privately renting is set to rise, as more and more private investors come on to the market, making it increasingly easy for people to get a private rent accommodation compared to social housing, which involves going onto a waiting list or bidding on properties through council websites via the Choice Based Lettings system.

A study was recently carried out by the Building and Social Housing Foundation, and the results of the study indicated that one in five households could be living in private rented accommodation by the end of the decade. The foundation believes that there is going to be a boom in the number of people that are living in private rented accommodation, and this will make up one fifth of households by the end of the decade in ten years time.

One industry official said: “This research shows significant changes are taking place in the UK housing system. More and more of us are becoming private renters – 1m households since 2005 – some of them through choice, but many because they have no other option.”