The housing ladder once seemed straight forward. You leave home, buy your first home and then progressively move up the housing ladder, before perhaps trading down in retirement. However, research from the Council of Mortgage Lenders has revealed that today, things are a bit more ‘fuzzier’.

The CML research shows the change in demographics for housing tenure and is likely to have an impact on Government policy in the years to come.

The CML found as many as a fifth of first-time buyers (that is, people who are not currently home-owners) are in fact “returners” who have at some point in the past been home-owners. However, that traffic is two-way: around 15% of people moving into private renting in 2005-6 were previously home-owners.

Ageing
The gradual ageing of the population is a widely understood demographic influence that will mean high rates of home-ownership progressively extending further up the age spectrum. This ageing effect will be an important factor helping to underpin overall home-ownership rates over the next twenty or so years, but one that ultimately may also become associated with increasing numbers of single households, under-occupation and dis-repair.

But an ageing population is not the only issue. Household composition will also be affected by more people choosing to remain single either permanently or for longer before forming relationships, and more adults entering and ending marriage and cohabitation relationships a number of times. Such changes mean many more one person households where the head of the household is aged under 65.

The CML found around 900,000 men and 1.2 million women are couples “living apart together”, who maintain their own individual properties.

Women’s impact
Additional demand on housing has come from the rise of women working. Rising levels of female pay and the growing financial independence of women. These have boosted the demand for housing from both single women and dual income couples.

Rental demand
Rental figures have also shown an increase in demand. The CML said that many factors lie behind the increase in demand for private rental property – including the growth of student numbers, affordability considerations, the need for mobility, relationship breakdown and inward migration – but a unifying theme is the ability of the sector to accommodate a challenging spectrum of housing needs, mostly short-term in nature.

More households moved either within or into the private rental sector in England in 2005/6 than within or into the owner-occupied sector (DCLG, 2006) even though there are more than six times as many households in the owner-occupied sector.

Multiple property ownership
Second homeowners have also contributed to the growth of private landlords over the past decade. However, increasing numbers of people also own additional properties that are not for letting. The number of second homes in England has risen by 30% over the past decade and second home-ownership has also increased in Scotland and Wales. The number of English households with a second home abroad has doubled over the same period.

Relationship breakdown
Additional changes in homeowner status has been contributed by breakdowns in relationships. In the case of relationship breakdown, one partner may move out of a jointly owned home into rented accommodation, or go to live with family or friends for a while.

One type of household which has increased in importance enough for the official statisticians to attempt to measure it is couples “living apart together”. This is where two individuals form a couple yet maintain and live in, at least for some of the time, their individual properties.

The main reasons for more couples living apart together are the desire to retain a high degree of independence and the means to achieve this. Around 40% of couples living apart together are aged 45 or over. They are likely to be more financially independent than those cohabiting with a partner in a single household. The Office for National Statistics (Haskey, 2005) has estimated that there were around 0.9 million men and 1.2 million women in these relationships in Great Britain.

Author Paul Samter, CML economist, said: “Given the considerable complexites of modern life and the increasing interactions across the tenures, perhaps it is time for the government to develop a more holistic approach to housing market issues. A good starting point would be to focus on policies delivering an adequate supply of high-quality housing, assisting the mobility of households within and between tenures and an equality of treatment for those in need regardless of their tenure.”