Are millions of families lost in official figures?
Home ownership is falling. It peaked at 71% in 2004 and is now 64%. The figures are universally accepted and used to inform policy-making at every level.
They may also be very misleading.
A recent Resolution Foundation blog* makes the simple but illuminating point that these percentages refer to properties not people or families (by which they mean single adults or couples with or without dependent children).
If we add the 5.8 million ‘lost’ families who live in someone else’s house – with parents or friends or sharers – to those in recognised private or social rents, the share of people in owner-occupation is as low as 51%.
Many more families than is generally assumed are not owner-occupiers.
It’s more evidence in support of the Citizens Advice campaign for policy that deals properly with the housing needs of half the population.
* Only half of families own their own home – how do the other half live? Lindsay Judge and Adam Corlett, Resolution Foundation, 27/12/16.