More people relying on rented accommodation 'than ever before'
A higher number of people are relying on the private rented sector for accommodation than ever before, new government figures suggest.
This could result in a growing number of people purchasing buy-to-let properties as a potentially lucrative investment.
According to data from the Department of Communities and Local Government, 17.4 per cent of homes are now within the private rented sector, an increase from 16.4 per cent in 2009.
Since 2000, the number of properties in the sector, which currently stands at 3.9 million, has risen by 1.8 million.
Conversely, the number of properties in the owner-occupied sector fell from 14.9 million in 2009 to 14.8 million last year - the lowest it has been since 2000.
Nigel Terrington, chief executive of buy-to-let mortgage provider Paragon, claimed that the growth in the demand for rented accommodation is due to a number of factors, including long-term social, economic and demographic changes, along with recent financial events such as the recession, which drove more people towards renting rather than buying a home.
He commented: "More people are now relying on the private rented sector than ever before and we are certainly seeing a change in perception towards the sector.
"The increase in private rented sector homes is fuelled by a combination of landlords buying property with cash and buy-to-let mortgages, people letting out homes they have inherited and homeowners deciding to let their property."
He added that landlords are now seeing an increasingly varied mix of tenants in the sector, with the rental market no longer dominated by students and young professionals but also incorporating more families and mature tenants.
It follows the latest rental price index from online property listings site findaproperty.com, which found that the average monthly cost of rented accommodation in the UK rose to its highest ever level during the second quarter of 2011.
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