According to the Government’s English Housing Survey, the proportion of households in the private rented sector (as opposed to owner-occupiers or people living in social housing) has fallen slightly since 2015-16.
But levels have remained stable over the past couple of years and still significantly higher than a couple of decades ago, having doubled in size since the early to mid-2000s.
The survey found that 4.4 million households (which represents 19% of the total) in England were in private rental accommodation in 2020-21. By way of comparison, this was a fall from 20% in 2015-16.
London remains an anomaly, with the high cost of buying resulting in 27% of households living in the private rented sector, compared with 17% in the rest of England.
It means the capital has more private rental households than outright owners, and there are nearly as many privately-rented properties as there are homes owned with mortgages.