Third of social housing tenants hope to buy

A new study among social housing tenants in the UK reveals aspirations towards home ownership, with almost a third (29 per cent) hoping to buy their own home in the future.

The research was conducted among more than 1,000 social housing tenants by The Rental Exchange, a partnership between Experian and Big Issue Invest.

With 4.8 million Britons living in social housing, the study found that tenants live in social housing for 12 years on average, and 66 per cent of today’s tenants have lived in social housing for more than a decade.

The aspiration to move out of social housing and own a property is an ambition found primarily among the young, with more than half (55 per cent) of those aged 18-34 years hoping to one day get on the housing ladder.

When thinking ahead to the future, while almost a third of social housing tenants hope to move into their own property, 57 per cent are also happy staying in their current home.

Only four per cent of tenants hope to move out of social housing and rent privately. A further three per cent seek to be able to move out of their current social housing property which they live in with their family, and get their own social housing property.

Through the Rental Exchange, both social and private landlords will be able to submit information about their tenants’ payment history. In the same way as mortgage-holders are able to build a credit history, rental payments can now be factored into credit decisions to improve the level of insight available to help credit and service providers assess risk and affordability.

This will ultimately help to open up access to more affordable credit for tenants by enabling them to more easily demonstrate their creditworthiness.

Jonathan Westley, managing director of Experian’s UK&I consumer information services, comments:

“Millions of social housing tenants have little or no credit history, so have been excluded from affordable credit, or paid a premium for it.  For credit providers to lend responsibly, and also prevent fraud, they need a more complete view of customers’ financial commitments and payment history.”

He adds: “Social housing tenants are a dynamic, broad mix of people who have varied aspirations for the future. On average, social housing tenants have lived in their homes for 12 years, yet their regular monthly payments are not taken into account when applying for credit in the same way that mortgage payments are for homeowners. Rental Exchange will change this.