The latest Hamptons Monthly Lettings Index (December 2024) has revealed that for most of the last decade, older households who didn’t purchase a home in their 20’s and 30’s drove the growth of the private rented sector.

According to the English Housing Survey, between 2013/14 and 2023/24 the number of renters aged 45+ rose by 24% (from 1.43m to 1.77m). Meanwhile, government-backed homeownership schemes, including Help to Buy, alongside low interest rates, helped the number of households in Great Britain aged under 45 who were renting, fall by 1% over the last 10 years (from 3.45m to 3.43m), despite the population growing over this period.

However, higher interest rates have reversed this trend, says Hamptons. The firm stated: ‘The pace at which younger people buy their first home has slowed sharply. Between 2022/23 and 2023/24 the growth in the private rented sector has been wholly driven by the under 45’s. This shift has added £3.5bn to the amount of rent paid by the under 45’s over the last year, meaning they’re paid a total of £56.2bn in rent in 2024. Under 45’s now pay two-thirds (66%) of all rent in Great Britain, up from 64% in 2023 and back to pre-Covid levels.’

According to Hamptons, over the last 12 months, the number of under 45’s renting privately rose by 149,000 across Great Britain to a total of 3.4m. This increase equates to around 40% of the people who, over the last decade, bought using the Help to Buy scheme. The total amount of rent paid by the under 45’s has risen 59% over the last 10 years, a reflection of rising rents rather than an increase in the number of younger tenants.