Home Ownership Down and Renting Up For First Time in a Century

The decade 2001 to 2011 saw substantial changes in longstanding trends in home ownership and renting. In 2011, more than half (64%, 15.0 million) of the 23.4 million households in England and Wales were owner occupied, however this was a decline from 69% in 2001, which was the first fall in a century. As a consequence, there has been an increase in the proportion of rented households (31% to 36%), particularly within the private sector; private rentals rose from 12% to 18% of the housing market, whilst social rented households remained stable, falling slightly from 19% to 18%. Read more on the ONS website.