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One third of people in rental property say NHF

The shortage of homes is damaging home ownership rates and boosting rents, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF).

The BBC reports that only around 67 percent of people own their own homes, with levels expected to fall even further to 63.8 percent over the next decade.

The NHF is now calling for the government to invest more money into affordable housing. The government is investing £4,5 billion in low cost homes over the next four years, which the NHF believes represents a cut of 63 percent.

Fewer and fewer people now own their own homes, due to rising house prices, the need for bigger deposits and stricter lending criteria.

However, this means that increasing numbers of individuals are forced into unregulated private rented accommodation, or onto social housing waiting lists. It has also been predicted that rents will increase by a fifth in the next five years.

A representative for the campaign group priceout.org called the situation “lose-lose for generation rent”, and expressed his support for the FirstBuy scheme.

FirstBuy aims to help up to 10,000 people buy their first home by helping them with a deposit.

The government has also proposed to change planning systems to encourage more commercial residential housing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .