Politicians and NLA predict a move towards ‘flexible’ renting

But is that what ‘Generation Rent’ want?

The National Landlords Association (NLA) fringe event at this year’s political party conferences expressed itself troubled by ‘the disproportionate attention given to virtually inaccessible social renting and owner occupation,’ and discussed ‘a cultural shift away from the UK obsession with home ownership towards the flexibility that renting provides’.

Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Housing Minister, told the Conservative fringe event in Manchester:

“I think the future of the private-rented sector is bright, it can only expand and play a greater role in providing housing in the UK.”

While David Salusbury, Chairman of the NLA predicted an increase in the numbers of people renting privately ‘as as people move away from homeownership towards more flexible forms of accommodation.’

But evidence from around the country suggests that it’s not a lack of flexibility that drives the sector, but house prices and a scarcity of mortgages.

89% of 18 to 34 year-olds who don’t already own a property want to own their own home, a survey for property portal new-homes.co.uk has revealed. And, far from interest in home owning declining, for the 4th year in a row 83% of people see home ownership as a sensible long term investment.

However, it looks as though our young people’s dreams of owning a home will remain just that. A recent Halifax survey of 8,000 people between the ages of 20 and 45 found that only 5% of this generation was making the spending sacrifices necessary to save for the deposit on a new home, prompting the Halifax to name them ‘Generation Rent’.