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Housing/Private rental sector - Coggle Diagram
Housing/Private rental sector
Recent aspect of housing crisis in country
Increasing difficult to become homeowner
1/5 live in private rented up from 1 in 10 20 years ago (ONS)
Social housing decreased rapidly
Home ownership decline while private renting rises
Relatively underrepresented aspect of precarity post austerity
Living with parents now most common for young adults, used to be living with partner FT, ONS 2026
Increasing number of new buyers rely on parents wealth rather than own savings to afford it YOUGOV
Private rents increasingly unaffordable
Increasing issue of autonomy for tenants
Renters rights act as a solution
Aims to provide greater rights for tenants in UK (Cheetham 2024)
End of section 21 no fault evictions
Increasing supply also a solution, every 10% stock lowers rent 1% in NYC li 2022
Brexit migrant construction worker issue
Rise of private sector
Traditional focus on homeownership in UK, progressed under Thatcher gov, focus on asset based welfare
Homeownership still most common in England at 62%
Instead of state providing welfare for insecurity over course of ones life, instead individual can get assets which help them e.g will pay off mortgage over course of their life, any needs they can draw on house as asset by renting or selling
= Retreat of welfare provision
Retreat from state to individual = neoliberal
How happen?
Privatisation of social housing taking off in 80s
Right to buy enabled council house tenants to buy at discount
Greater access to financial credit from financial liberalisation from 80s onwards
Increased supply of mortgage credit = increased demand for existing housing as its easier to buy loan/mortgage, more can buy a home
H/E limited amount of housing drives up prices as supply is limited
= more mortgages = more bank profit = more financial liberalisation
Why?
Lack of alternative housing options
House price cycle
Right to buy
Not building more council homes
Rise of low-pay insecure employment
Harder to save for deposit/qualify for mortgage
McKee et al 2017 fallacy of choice, more young people living in private renting
Tenants vs landlords (OSN)
Private renters younger
Owners older
Landlords survey
Share in largest quintile has risen
Rising in wealth
Most cited reasons inc supplement income and contribute to pension
Half of landlords own 1 property yet most tenants belong to landlord with multiple
Landlord now biggest small business
White British wayy more likely to own homes (Resolution Foundation)
Important when thinking about precarity, tenants younger, more often ethnic minority
How bad is this rise?
Poor housing conditions
Almost half living in cold damp or mold
Gov.UK 2025
Mental health impact (Storer et al 2024)
Physical health
More people crammed into suboptimal housing conditions following austerity in SPRS
Massive growth in private rent, faster than house prices
Extreme in London but issue across UK
Financialisation of housing: property is an asset to get profit from *see left (Ryan-Collins et al 2017)
