More rent than pay a mortgage in london

New figures just out show that renters in the capital outnumber homeowners for the first time in a more than a decade,  government data released yesterday shows that last year 898,000 London households were occupied by private renters.

The figures, which provide data from as far back as 2005, show that a decade ago just 405,000 households were renting, while 1,150,000 were paying mortgages.

“Generation Rent” as it has become known is for the greater part  made up of potential buyers who are trapped into paying high rents which give them little or no chance of ever saving up the deposit for a home of their own, or even if they do save a deposit  they have little chance of satisfying the earnings to value ratio required to obtain a mortgage due to spiralling house prices.

The number of households lived in by those with mortgages has sunk to 883,000, it just shows how the high house prices are affecting home ownership in London.

In a sign that ever increasing house prices are making it ever more difficult for generation rent, the number of households lived in by those with mortgages has sunk to 883,000.

The figures, which provide data from as far back as 2005, show that a decade ago just 405,000 households were renting, while 1,150,000 were paying mortgages.

 

Allen Walkey

Highly experienced businessman with a successful career in property sales and investment both in the UK and abroad. Now a freelance writer and blogger for the property and Investment Industry, keeping readers up-to-date with changes and events in a rapidly changing world.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Prime London property stock falls 3.4% in Q3

The latest Prime Central London Stock Index by Benham and Reeves has revealed that the number of properties listed for sale at £2m or above fell by -3.4% during the third quarter of 2026, leaving 3,778 prime homes on the market. While Kensington, Notting Hill and Chelsea recorded modest increases in available stock, several established prime…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

When a chain breaks: how bridging can keep a sale moving

Every agent knows the call. A buyer further down the chain has pulled out or their mortgage has stalled, and a sale you have worked on for months is about to fall apart. Often the person caught in the middle could still buy if they did not have to wait for their own sale. That…
Read More →
Breaking News

Four in ten homes see asking price reduced

More than four in ten homes currently listed for sale across England have already seen their asking price reduced, according to the latest market analysis by eXp UK, with the number of reduced properties climbing by 3.6% since August. eXp UK analysed property listings across England to establish how many have undergone an asking-price reduction.…
Read More →
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 19/10/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Last week Sourced Living began rolling out Genifea across its branches, the platform’s first commercial CRM integration. By Author Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR Andrew Stanton spoke to founder Pragati Dhingra about what the Genifea platform actually does, where AI fits in an estate agency,…
Read More →
Breaking News

Mixed signals in UK construction as contract awards rise, but starts fall

Detailed planning approvals declined 16% against the preceding three months and fell 28% lower than last year, a warning sign for future work. Main contract awards dropped 19% against the last three months but climbed 25% year-on-year, a sign that major schemes are being committed. Project starts took the steepest fall, declining 26% against the…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

Estate Agents Brace for Rising Compliance Costs

Nearly two-thirds of compliance leaders in estate agencies and property firms expect budgets to increase amid growing pressures Just 6% expect cuts, down from 31% last year, while 63% now work weekly overtime on AML The majority of senior compliance professionals in UK property firms and estate agents expect their budgets and teams to grow…
Read More →