Appropriate rental homes disproportionate to growing number of older renters

Disabled and older renters in the UK’s Private Rented Sector face significant challenges finding and accessing suitable accommodation, says the industry body.

Propertymark, the leading professional body for estate and letting agents, has highlighted an increasing concern in the private rented sector as the disparity in bungalows available to rent impacts the growing number of older and disabled renters.

According to research conducted by the National Housing Federation, nearly 867,000 households headed by people aged 55 or over are living in the private rented sector.

Since 2010/11 the number of 55+ households has grown by 70% and nearly half of private rented sector tenants aged 65 or over are in the bottom 20% of all household incomes.

Propertymark’s industry wide research showed that across the whole of the UK, privately rented bungalows have dipped by nearly 5% year on year, equating to almost 1,000 homes. From April 2024 to April 2025, there were 19,161 bungalows to rent, compared to 20,138 from April 2023 to April 2024.

This issue can be seen more evidently regionally across the UK. In the month of April 2025, the West Midlands saw 110 bungalows available to rent, Scotland saw 66, and 35 were recorded across Northern Ireland. This is compared to larger spikes seen in other areas, such as the East of England, with 298 available and 284 in the South East.

The industry body has said that not only has it become more difficult to find a suitable home, but it is also removing much of a renter’s relocation flexibility once they retire. Areas within the South West of England, such as Cornwall and Devon, are popular coastal destinations for retirees, but see fewer accessible homes enter the market. From January to April 2025, Cornwall saw only 114 bungalows on the market in the private rented sector; however, when compared to areas like Nottingham in the East Midlands with a smaller population, 164 were available during the same period.

Propertymark has also compared the number of bungalows to rent in some other popular cities across the UK:

City Bungalows available from 1 April 2024 to 1 April 2025 Bungalows available from 1 April 2023 to 1 April 2024 Percentage difference year on year
Inner London 179 169 +5.9%
Birmingham 230 240 -4.2%
Manchester 143 141 +1.4%
Glasgow 69 86 -19.8%
Newcastle 217 300 -27.7%
Sheffield 171 198 -13.6%
Bristol 251 259 -3.1%
Cardiff 137 171 -19.9%
Nottingham 523 513 +1.9%
Carlisle 111 115 -3.5%
Exeter 393 389 +1%
Lincoln 239 284 -15.8%
Blackpool 142 167 -15%
Brighton 429 488 -12.1%

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, comments:

“The concern surrounding the lack of available homes to rent in comparison to growing demand from tenants is long-standing and especially affects renters on a lower income, the older population and those with disabilities.

“We can see that year on year, across the board, there has been a significant downturn in the number of bungalows available to rent, which are crucial in the adaptation for those with disabilities and older renters.

“The private rented sector plays an important role in housing the nation and without a significant increase in the number of homes of all types to rent, rent levels will remain higher and, in turn, put financial pressure on those it is designed to help.

“We urgently need the attention of all Governments to ensure planning policy and housing strategies recognise housing needs across the country and older people, whether renting or right-sizing, can access suitable housing.”

EAN Breaking News

Breaking News from the team at Estate Agent Networking. Have a new story to share with us? Then please get in contact today! When and where we can we will refer to third party websites with a 'live link back' where news was released first.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

UK monthly property transactions for May 2025

Headline statistics from the latest transactions data include: the provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in May 2025 is 81,470, 12% lower than May 2024 and 25% higher than April 2025 the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in May 2025 is 80,530, 13% lower than May 2024 and…
Read More
Breaking News

Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) shows the Government has a plan

The Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) held its first board meeting today (26 June 2025), where it set out a roadmap for recruiting 100,000 more construction workers a year by the end of Parliament. Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “The Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) is a recognition…
Read More
Paint Stripper Tools
Estate Agent Talk

5 Strategies to Optimise Your Warehouse for Real Estate

The term fixer-upper can mean many things, from ‘slap some paint on the walls and it looks brand new’ to ‘will this building collapse if we open the front door?’ Indeed, in the dicey world of commercial property acquisition, each warehouse you buy will probably fall into both camps. Thinking about the viability of warehouses…
Read More
Breaking News

HMOs sell for up to 50% above market average

New research from Excellion Capital, the boutique debt advisory and investment firm, reveals that HMOs sell for as much as 50% above the average house price, further increasing their investment potential after it was revealed that HMOs also create rental yields of up to 12.5%. After previous research from Excellion Capital recently showed that the…
Read More
Breaking News

UK buyers struggle while 50,000 homes sit empty

As the UK housing crisis deepens, new analysis by Open Property Group exposes a worrying surge in so-called “zombie homes”- properties that sit unoccupied and deteriorating while millions struggle to access affordable housing. Key insights: 50,000+ long-term vacant homes in England alone 23,000+ of these have been empty for more than two years Estimated £13.6…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 26/06/25

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   The UK is Europe’s second most distressed market despite headline GDP growth Retail and Consumers Goods has emerged as the most distressed sector in Europe, with distress levels now the highest since the global financial crisis, according to the latest Weil European Distress Index (WEDI). The…
Read More