Government 'must recognise PRS importance'

Monday, March 1 2010

Britons who may not be in a financial position to purchase property are increasingly looking towards renting to solve their housing needs.

This is the finding of the chief executive of Paragon Group Nigel Terrington, who commented on the Communities and Local Government's English Housing Report.

According to the report, which was published last week, there has been a rise of one million people choosing to privately rent homes since 2001.

Mr Terrington said this could include single person households, students, economic migrants and those who are getting married later in life than previously.

He predicted that the trend is set to continue and the government needs to acknowledge the growing propensity to rent rather than buy.

"It needs to ensure that the sector isn't dominated by red tape and that there is available finance to enable landlords to expand the number of properties in the [private rented sector]," Mr Terrington added.

The government's report noted a drop in the number of owner occupied households to 14.6 million in 2009-09. This was down from a peak in 2005-06 of 14.8 million.