Young tenants 'could be looking to rent long-term'

News Category: Industry News

This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.

The current economic downturn could be causing a shift among young people to view renting property from a landlord as a long-term ownership solution, according to a property expert.

Peter Braithwaite, chairman of property services agency DTZ Residential, said graduates are increasingly becoming dissuaded from planning to enter the property buying market due to the high costs faced by first-time buyers.

A recent poll by the Chartered Institute of Housing suggested that only a third of 18-24-year-olds are now looking to homeownership as their ideal living situation.

Mr Braithwaite suggests that landlords and lettings agents could stand to benefit from this trend as young people begin to perceive rentals as a practical long-term solution.

He said: "The real change will come when … rentals become accepted as the norm for a larger part of the population, possibly over a lifetime, and they refer to it as their own home."

The property expert added that it would be difficult to disrupt the "enshrined" position of homeownership in the UK, but suggested "this is probably the time" for it to occur.

Find out more about letting agent software