Rental homes blighted by high cost and low quality

Many households are struggling with rising costs, while renters in particular continue to struggle with low quality housing, the Resolution Foundation claims.

It’s based the claim on initial findings from the English Housing Survey 2021-23 which reportedly highlights the continuing issue of poor housing standards in the private-rental sector.

Private renters are allegedly “significantly more likely to experience damp and overcrowding than owner occupiers” says the foundation.

Progress in reducing the prevalence of damp in private rented dwellings between 1996 and 2011 has stalled, it claims, with the proportion of private rented dwellings with damp rising from seven per cent in 2019 to nine per cent in 2022.

Achieving home ownership remains a challenge for first-time buyers, but it is more accessible for those who have a wealthy support network. 

While most first-time buyers funded the purchase of their first home with savings, there was an increase in those reporting help from family or friends from 27 per cent in 2021-22 to 36 per cent in 2022-23.

Cara Pacitti, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, says: “[Our] headline report highlights the impact of the continuing cost of living crisis on households, with higher interest rates leading to a significant rise in the proportion of mortgagors who are struggling to afford their mortgage compared to a year ago.

“And it’s not just mortgagors under pressure, with three in 10 private renters reported to be struggling with their housing costs. 

“With plans to introduce a Decent Homes Standard for the private rental sector still to materialise, private renters also remain much more likely to be living in sub-standard, overcrowded homes than owner occupiers.

“The prospects for accessing home ownership for first-time buyers remain challenging. The EHS shows that while savings are still the main way buyers get onto the housing ladder, they are increasingly likely to rely on support from friends and family. This reflects a concerning longer-term trend for young people where the key to first-time home ownership – and the opportunities that stem from it – is increasingly who your parents are, rather than what you’ve earned or saved.”

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