The English population is expected to increase; housing will follow

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Nov 11 2009 | 0 Comments

Research by Communities and Local Government says that the population of England is going to increase from 50.8 million to 60.4 million by 2031. There is also a projected increase of one person households. It is expected to increase by 60.3%. In 2006, the number of one person households in England was 6.8 million, the 2031 projection is now 10.9 million.

With an increase of 9.7 million people, there will have to be more room for them. The good news is that since 1938, the number of houses in the country has increased greatly; it has grown from 10.6 million homes in 1938 to 22.2 million as of March 2007. In 1938 people weren’t buying a lot of the homes; there were only 32% that were owner occupied, there are now 70% that are.

Over the past decade, there has been a huge increase in the number of homes built in the country to keep up with demand. It has been seeing an increase in homes between 121,000 and 207,000 every year since 1998. However, with the recent recession, that figure has dropped and between 2008 and 2009, there was only 108,000 built.

Another problem that has been happening in the recession is that the number of vacant houses has also increased. Between April 2007 and April 2008 the number of vacant private homes increased by 26,000.

It appears as though in England, that as the recession has gone on, more and more people are renting instead of buying homes. It may have more to do with the actual cost of ownership than the recession though. In 1990, the average price of a home was 63,000 pounds. It increased to 196,000 pounds just 19 years later. When people are losing their jobs left and right, they simply can’t afford such an expense every month. Not to mention, the true cost of ownership of a home is not only reflected in the monthly mortgage payment but also in the cost of repairs to the house. Things like replacing appliances and fixing plumbing is something that a homeowner has to worry about replacing or fixing on their own dime rather than expecting a landlord to fix these things.

With the number of people that England is expected to accommodate in the next 20 years, there will likely be even more rentals in the country; particularly with single person households. Also, I can expect that housing prices will not go down in the country thanks to the very limited amount of space in the more urban areas.

In the United States, the population is also expected to explode in the next 20 years and housing prices are expected to steadily, but not rapidly, increase over the time frame. Of course, there will be urban areas where bubbles will form and housing prices in those areas will be more expensive than other areas, but over all the national average will likely increase steadily.

Source

Related posts:
Housing Prices See an Increase In the DC Area
Housing prices are on the decline nationwide

Tags: population of england, landlord, vacant houses