Is the UK moving from property ownership towards property rental?

[Nicholas Wallwork]

Historically the UK property market has been dominated by home owner properties as opposed to rented properties which have often been the mainstay of markets such as the US. Ironically as the US market moves from a rental to an ownership market it seems as if the UK is moving in the opposite direction. Is [...]

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[Ed_P]

I think with the rapidly rising house prices in the UK, people do not have a choice. If given a choice I am sure most would choose to buy their houses, but to get onto the property ladder is just extortionate and people already renting have no chance as they are spending money on rent instead of saving to put down a deposit.

It is ironic that in the US things are the other way round, we may need to copy what they have done!

 

[totallyproperty]

I think you have hit the nail on the head, the US market used to be predominantly rental while UK was predominantly purchase. As you quite rightly suggest, the US market is now moving towards purchase and the UK market is now running at great speed towards rental.

Without a significant reduction in UK property prices, or a massive revival in the economy, will the UK first time buyer market ever be the same again?

 

[UmAlam]

In my views Ed_P is right. The increasing prices are preventing the buyers to purchase the properties and they do not have the choice. Adding more in discussion i am going to write some views over the government measurements. although UK government has announced a Help to buy scheme to overcome the needs of the families do not have their own house but still the scheme is not accepted by the majority because their are much more things to be cleared by the government and the policy makers to win the hearts and one is the interest rate. What if the interest rate would increase?

 

[Mike D]

If that were the case, I would see that we are moving more towards a European culture of renting more than buying... especially northern europe where the property bubble was nothing like compared to the south... in countries that are relatively well off like Germany or Holland, people are not that obsessed with entering into a morgage and are quite content with simply finding the right house or flat and renting it.

 

[Bilbo80]

I think young people just can't afford to get into the housing market any more. More and more of them are still living with their parents. It's all over the news this week that people in their 40s are the first generation who will have less money than their parents so who knows what it will be like for those in their 20s. It's not the same as it was 10/15 years ago. I bought my first flat in London for 40 grand just over 15 years ago and built up from there, today that same flat would go for nearly 300, young people don't stand a chance.
And I agree with the person who said we're heading towards a more european way of living, I have some friends in Sweden who wold never dream of buying a house, and their parents have never owned one either.

 

[Mike D]

40 grand? that must have been a bargain... I have lived in Spain and here the property bubble was completely out of proportion... by entering the Euro suddenly everyone started to buy a house that more often than not was out of their reach... and now part of the daily news you get images of people been evicted every day... I really wouldnt want this happening back in England... Hopefully people will steer more towards the Swedish, Dutch or German approach of renting... espeically in difficult times like the current crisis.