Property News · August 10, 2016

The stigma of renting and the legacy of new towns | Letters


Jonn Elledge’s article (Our home ownership dream is over. Let’s improve renting, 3 August) is mostly a realistic picture of the rental v ownership situation in the UK. The rate of home ownership here is low (63.9%) compared with other EU countries. Germany is invariably mentioned, as in this article, but it is an exception with the lowest proportion at 52%. The UK is 23rd out of the 28 EU countries; even France now has a higher percentage. (Even the much denigrated, capitalist US has a similar comparatively low rate as the UK at 65%). Ten EU countries have more than 80% home ownership (source: European Home Ownership Rate 2007-2016). So the aspiration to home ownership is evidently one of the vast majority of the population.However, the stigma of renting and the ambition to own one’s home long predates Margaret Thatcher. In the 1960s there was a huge rise in affordable home ownership in the UK and the inevitable pressure to buy a home. From my own experience, when I emigrated to Canada in 1968, I remember the disparaging reaction from my English family and friends when my husband and I rented for several years because we could not afford to buy. Helen RugmanMoulsford, Oxfordshire Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…The stigma of renting and the legacy of new towns | Letters

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