Not long after the global financial crisis, soaring house prices through the 2010s turned residential property into the largest capital asset and best long-term investment in the world. In the same period, rates of owner-occupation fell across the UK, US and Australia. Now, for the first time in 50 years, a growing proportion of households in these countries rent.
Some households in every age group have dropped out of ownership because of unsustainable costs and risks, but the young in particular are being priced out as the sector shrinks. In the UK, ownership rates among 25-34 year-olds halved to 30% in less than two decades.
