Analysis and action on living standards
Access to safe, secure and affordable housing is one of the most fundamental measures of living standards. But spiralling house prices, combined with the limited availability of social housing and high costs associated with the private rented sector, mean that for many UK families and individuals, these things remain out of reach.
Private renting was once seen as a minority tenure that people passed through quickly on their way to home ownership. But it has been rising fairly consistently since 1989. While the flexibility of private renting is a benefit to some, it is associated with insecurity of tenure and the highest costs. The data in this section explores rates of private renting over time, and for family units headed by people in different age groups and cohorts.
Click legend items to toggle series on and off
A family is a single adult or couple, and any dependent children. 18 year olds that live with parents and are not full-time students are not counted as separate family units and do not appear in these statistics. These people are likely to be in education at sixth form or college, and so are still ‘dependent children’.
RF analysis of IFS, Households Below Average Income (1961-83); ONS, Annual Labour Force Survey (1984-91); ONS, Quarterly Labour Force Survey (1992-latest)
RF analysis of ONS, Annual Labour Force Survey (1984-91); ONS, Quarterly Labour Force Survey (1992-latest)
Event invitations Top of the Charts weekend-reading email Resolution Ventures newsletter
