The English Housing Survey showed a decrease in the number of owner occupied households from a peak of 14.8 million in 2005 and 2006 to 14.5 million in 2009-10.
The report found that in 2009-10 social renters paid on average £75 per week in rent and private renters £153. Around 62% of social renters received housing benefit compared to 24% of private renters.
In 2009-10 1.8 million households had moved into their current home during the previous 12 months. This was 200,000 less than in 2008-09 and 600,000 less than in 2007-08. The reduction was almost all in the owner occupied sector.
Grenville Turner, chief executive of Countrywide, said: “The UK has traditionally been a nation of homeowners and whilst millions still aspire to buy their own property, current market conditions make that more challenging than usual. Our agents saw a 17% increase in new buyer enquires during 2010 but market transaction levels remained flat.
“Successive governments have widely encouraged homeownership but the impact of the recession has led to a structural change in the market with record levels of tenant demand. We have seen a 37% increase in new tenant applications during 2010 with 4.5 tenants vying for every available property.
“We are now beginning to see a shift in attitude as a whole new generation is growing up choosing to long-term rent and the average age of a first time buyer has risen to 37.Record levels of tenant demand and a severe shortage of stock in the private rental market is a national issue which needs addressing.”
Stephen Smith, director of housing and external affairs at Legal & General network, said: “These figures, along with the confirmation of the fall in new home building to the lowest levels since 1924 are all part of a picture of a housing market beginning a significant change.
“Constrained mortgage lending results in people having fewer choices about where they live and their form of occupation and the similar difficulties for house builders in funding their developments is probably resulting in considerable pent-up demand. Unless more homes are built, then when the economy returns to better health and consumer confidence recovers, we run the risk of house price inflation taking off again.”
The EHS also found that the energy efficiency of the housing stock continued to improve with the average SAP rating increasing from 42 to 53 between 1996 and 2009. The rented sectors - private and social - improved more than the owner occupied sector.
Some 6.7 million homes (30%) were non-decent in 2009, down from 7.4 million (33%) in 2008. Overall, social sector homes were in a better condition than private sector homes with 23% being non-decent compared to 31%.
