The report, Housing in Transition: Understanding the dynamics of tenure change,says patterns of housing tenure in England have changed dramatically over the last twenty years. Depending upon the nature of economic recovery, it predicts there could be more change.

Mortgaged home ownership could fall to little more than 25% of all households from over 40% in the early 1990s, with overall home ownership dropping from a high of around 70% to perhaps 62% in 2025. In policy terms, we can no longer discuss home ownership as a single tenure – outright ownership and buying with a mortgage are two very different segments of the market, with different age profiles.

Private renting could increase by nearly 40% to house over 5.5 million households. For families in London, if the economy remains stagnant, private renting is projected to become the dominant tenure within 10 years, where it will house more than 300,000 families with children – a 50 per cent increase over the period.