Almost one in six homes now rent privately

The PRS now accounts for 15.6 per cent of all households in England, up from 14.2 per cent in 2008-09 and 11.7 per cent in 2005-06.
Other key findings from the CLG's report include:
There has been a decrease in the number of owner-occupied households from a peak of 14.8 million in 2005-06 to 14.5 million in 2009-10. The proportion of households in owner-occupation has been in decline since 2003, falling from 70.9 per cent to 67.4 per cent during the period
The proportion of social renting households is also in decline, falling from 19.5 per cent in 2001 to 17.0 per cent in 2009-10
Overall, social sector homes were in better condition than private sector homes. In percentage terms, the number of non-decent homes in the private rented sector has fallen from 46.8 per cent in 2006 to 40.8 per cent
60 per cent of all private rented households are living in decent homes, up from 56 per cent in 2008, whilst the energy efficiency of homes in the private rented sector has improved more over the period than the owner occupied sector
Couples with no dependent children are the most common type of household in the PRS (26 per cent), with one person households under 60 being the second largest household type at 23 per cent
Lone parent households are more common in the private rented sector;
12 per cent of private renters compared with 3 per cent of owner occupiers
Half of all private renters are aged under 35 with half a million (15 per cent) aged16-24 and 1.2 million (35 per cent) aged 25 to 34
The PRS encompasses a wide range of economic status – 60 per cent of households are in full-time employment, 9 per cent in part-time work, 7 per cent are unemployed, 8 per cent are retired and 11 per cent are classed as ‘other inactive'
24 per cent of private renters receive housing benefit compared with 62 per cent of social renters
There are 3.4 million properties in the PRS, 60 per cent of which are located in suburban residential areas compared with just 4 per cent in the city centre
Nigel Terrington, Paragon, says: "The CLG's figures highlight the growing number of people relying on the private rented sector to provide their housing needs. The sector's importance to UK housing continues to grow as increasing numbers of people opting to rent privately rather than step on the housing ladder.
"Demand for privately rented property is at an unprecedented level and far outweighs supply. The resulting rental inflation is leading to people, including the most vulnerable households, being priced out of the sector at a time when the supply of social housing is in decline.
"With Capital Economics estimating that the private rented sector will be home to nearly one in five households by 2015, it is crucial that adequate levels of buy-tolet mortgage finance are available to enable landlords to expand the number of properties in the PRS."