Taylor Scott International News
A decade long decline in home ownership in England has been halted with the latest figures showing that more than 14 million people owned their home in 2015. The data from the English Housing Survey reveals that out of the 22.5 million households in England in 2014 to 2015, the number of people owning their own home in the past year has remained static the first time this has happened since 2003. It also shows that more than half of local authority tenants and a third of housing association tenants expect to buy their current home and there has been an increase in better homes with the number of properties failing to meet the government’s Decent Homes Standard continuing to fall and down by 3.1 million on 2006. ‘In 2010 there was a housing market where buyers couldn’t buy, builders couldn’t build and lenders couldn’t lend. Our efforts are turning that around with more than 270,000 families helped into home ownership through government backed schemes since 2010, while the number of new homes is up 25% over the last year,’ said Housing Minister Brandon Lewis. ‘And we’ve set out the boldest ambition for housing in a generation, doubling the budget so we can help a million more people into home ownership, while delivering a bigger, and better private rental sector,’ he added. Lewis said that the survey also provides evidence that the government’s decision to reinvigorate and extend its flagship Right to Buy scheme has boosted the aspiration of social housing tenants with those expecting to buy their current home rising from 35% in 2010/2011 to 42% in 2014/2015. More than 46,000 people have taken up the chance to buy their home through the reinvigorated scheme since 2012 with councils delivering replacement properties on a one to one basis ahead of schedule. Lewis added that house building is at the heart of the government’s long term economic plan with more than £20 billion committed over the next five years to help meet its ambition to deliver one million new homes. Details from the survey show that among owner occupiers, the proportion of households who owned outright remained larger than the proportion buying with a mortgage, although not in London. In 2014/2015, there were more outright owners at 33% than ‘mortgagors’ at 30%, a continuation of the trend first identified in 2013/2014. This was not the case in London where there were more mortgagors at 27% than outright owners at 23%, which the report says is most likely as a result of the younger age profile of the population in London. The private rented sector remained larger than the social rented sector. In 2014/2015 some 19% or 4.3 million of households were renting privately, while 17% or 3.9 million of households lived in the social rented sector. There was no change in the size of either sector between 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. There has been an increase in the number of families with dependent children… Taylor Scott International
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