March 27, 2007 | posted by Michael Baxter in IABN |

Maybe the adage is set to change. Today, for younger people, it may be more appropriate to say an Englishman’s home is his landlord’s.

Now, research from the Department for Communities and Local Government has found that for the first time since records began in 1939, there has been a fall in the number of owner occupiers in the UK.

In fact from 2005 to 2006, the total number dropped 25,000 to 14.62 million. That, at a time when the total number of households was increasing, hitting the 20.8 million mark.

Back in the 1950s, 50 percent of households rented, but that number went into steady decline as more and more Englishmen ascended the property ladder. They found themselves in a castle of financial security as inflation sided with them, reducing the cost of payments over the term of the mortgage.

But today, the drawbridge seems to be up between those with property and those without. While buy-to-let investors are able to use the capital growth in their properties to borrow some more, the would-be first time buyer is being left paying for the landlord’s mortgage.

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