A new report was published yesterday by the Chartered Institute of Housing, claiming that the ‘golden age’ of home ownership is over and that we now need to focus more on rental options in the UK.

Whenever the issue of renting comes up, its always interesting to look at our friends in Europe and the sociological perceptions towards renting there. In France and Germany – where just 45% of homes are actually owner occupied – renting is commonplace. It’s also a regular trend across the pond in big American cities.

Now, a large proportion of our society are faced with barriers to entry, meaning that renting is having to be considered as a serious option within the UK. Primarily, the Institute of Housing’s report calls for the ‘improvement of rented homes to meet changing trends’, be they changing demographics of rental tenants or their lifestyles.

I see this as a positive. I don’t understand why there remains a ‘stigma’ to renting a home beyond your student or early professional years. There are great opportunities available to people who can rent and as more and more developers become landlords tenants will gain more added security which the report suggests is currently lacking. At Urban Splash for example we’ve been accredited by the Homes and Communities Agency as a landlord of affordable homes.

The report also calls for a more diverse rental market with varied price points for people in differing circumstances. This diversity of choice is becoming more evident as developers themselves offer more of a rental choice; at Urban Splash for example we now retain a large proportion of our rental stock meaning that there is a choice to rent or buy at homes around the country. Our rental portfolio has increased to more than 400 homes this year.

As developers themselves become higher volume landlords it brings more positives to the market. Primarily, the customer can develop a direct relationship with the housebuilder, resulting in less middlemen, more hands on management and improved customer care which may well resort in customers ultimately purchasing their homes as mortgage availability improves.

The report also calls for the Government and developers to provide more for the ‘inbetweens’, a segment of society they identify as having incomes between £12,000 and £25,000 whose income puts them outside of the social housing bracket but often in near impossible positions in trying to secure a mortgage. This is where Homes and Communities backed products come into play. Rent to HomeBuy, for example is where customers can rent at 80% market rent whilst they save up to buy between 25% and 75% of their home for upto five years. This is available nationally at homes in Manchester and Plymouth. There’s also HomeBuy Direct (which is finishing in September) which is allows customers to get straight onto the property ladder through obtaining a mortgage for just 70% of their home with the remaining 30% obtained through an interest free equity loan. They give customers the option to either ‘try before they buy’, renting their home at a reduced rate for up to five years, or go into shared home ownership with less financial burden.

Overall I think this report’s done wonders to help catapult the issue of home ownership back into the public eye. I now think its the responsibility of developers and the Government to maintain these efforts and broaden the offering nationally; be that in terms of price, tenure, size and location.