Generation Rent is here to stay and deserves a fair deal

The annual English Housing Survey actually tells us very little we don't already know, but the emerging headlines are still hard to swallow for most renters.

Two thirds of under 35s are currently trapped in the rental market and those in Generation Rent will be understandably concerned that rent takes up 40% of their incomes - double the 20% that mortgage repayments take up of owner-occupiers' incomes - and they have nothing to call their own at the end.

Britain is a nation of aspiring buyers. It's in our psyche. But home ownership is no longer a right; it's a hope at best, a pipe dream at worst. As we come to terms with that, "renting sucks" is the message being shouted from the rooftops. But it doesn't have to.

In many cases renting provides the flexibility some people, especially young people, want and need. For others home ownership is top priority. But for everyone affordability is vital.

There are two real issues. First the obvious – rents are becoming unaffordable and we must do something to combat that, not least because a quarter of those in the private rented sector are subsidised by housing benefit and spiralling rents mean a spiralling welfare bill.

While we're at it we have to deliver better conditions in the private rented sector. The government's survey, published on 23 July, shows that a third of privately rented homes are in poor condition, compared with one in five owner-occupied homes and just 15%of social rented homes.

The second is that renting isn't a bad option. It's just a bad option in a housing market where we have such high house price inflation, especially in the areas of the country where most new jobs are being created. If you own a property – or your bank owns it and you're slowly buying it off them – you stand to profit substantially from its increase in value over the life of your mortgage. After 25 years you'll have an extremely valuable asset.

The truth is that many under 35s aren't anti-renting; they are used to it. They simply resent being left behind. It won't be long before our class system changes to accommodate this. At dinner parties we'll ask "do you own your home?".

Generation Rent is here to stay and deserves a fair deal. We must work towards a housing market where every tenure is available and affordable so people can choose which suits them at their particular time in life, safe in the knowledge they're getting a reasonable deal and a comfortable, secure home.

There's plenty of scope for debate on how we tackle the housing crisis in the private rented sector: build more, cap rents, enforce a landlord register, make better use of the estimated 15m empty bedrooms in England alone. But tackle it we must. It's time to turn the property ladder on its side and provide affordable options for everyone.

Matt Hutchinson is director of UK flat and house share website, SpareRoom.co.uk

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