The latest English Housing Survey compiled by the Department for Communities and Local Government found that of the estimated 22.6m households in the UK, 63% were owner occupiers, 33% owned outright and 31% purchased their property with a mortgage.
Figures revealed how young households were more likely to be stuck in the rent trap with almost half of all households aged 25-34 renting private accommodation, up from 45% in 2012-13 and more than double the proportion (21%) in 2003-04.
Weekly private rents in London have been consistently higher than outside of London since 2008-09, with the average Londoner required to fork out £281 a week in 2013-14 compared to £145 outside of the capital.
Savills UK head of residential research Lucian Cook said there was “an urgent need” for a long-term response to address the housing crisis.
“The English Housing Survey lays bare the generational divide in housing with older households continuing to benefit from the growth in home ownership and accumulation of equity in the second half of the 20th century, with younger households suffering from a lack of access to home ownership in the 21st.
“A new government will need to front up to the need to provide a bigger, better private rented sector and find ways to encourage the recycling of existing housing wealth so younger households can get on and trade up the housing ladder,” he concluded.
