70% of renters say they will never stop trying to get on the housing ladder

96% of current renters still ‘dream of owning a home someday’

A new poll of 3,000 tenants from Rightmove suggests that homeownership is still very much a priority, even though around 60 per cent of current renters say they are trapped as they would like to buy but cannot afford a property.

A third of these are ‘regressive renters’ who previously owned a property but have returned to the rental sector

Around 96 per cent of those now in rented accommodation still hope to own their own home in the future and 70 per cent of them say they will never stop trying to do so.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst said: "The traditional British love affair with property ownership seems as strong as ever and today’s tenants are so committed to realising their dream of homeownership that most say they’ll never concede defeat. The tricky years since the run on Northern Rock have not deterred them – in fact, they may feel encouraged by a more confident and optimistic mood in the market after years of famine and frustration. Today’s tenants are certainly hungry to be paying off their own mortgage rather than their landlord’s”.

The 60 per cent figure is up from 56 per cent a year ago.

The number of families renting their home has doubled over the past decade, according to the latest Census figures from the Office of National Statistics which suggests that 1 in 5 families in England now rent from a private landlord. At the same time, the proportion of families who own their home has dropped by 13 per cent.

Housing charity Shelter has warned that unless the Government builds more affordable homes to tackle the housing shortage, more families will be forced join ‘generation rent'.