Renters Expected to Overtake Homebuyers by 2025

According to an economic outlook report by accountants PwC, a quarter of UK households will be rented by 2025. By reviewing trends in the UK housing market, including trends in tenure, they predict that the number of privately rented households will exceed the number of households with a mortgage.

From 2001 to 2014, the number of households in the private rented sector more than doubled, rising from 2.3 million to 5.4 million, while the social housing supply did not significantly grow. Assuming this trend continues, there will be an additional 1.8 million households becoming private renters over the next decade, bringing the total to 7.2 million.

Over the same period, the number of households who own their own home with a mortgage fell from 10 million to 8 million. This is expected to decline further, as limited supply and gradually increasing house prices make it more difficult for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

Also predicted is that a greater number of people will own their homes outright than ever before, rising from 8.4 million to 10.6 million – 35% of the total number of households. This is due to the rising population of people aged 60+.

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