Home ownership 'to fall to mid-80s levels' | Business | guardian.co.uk

Home ownership 'to fall to mid-80s levels' | Business | guardian.co.uk

The housing market is in crisis as home ownership tumbles and house prices soar, a study has warned.

Home ownership in England will slump to just 63.8% over the next decade – the lowest level since the mid-1980s, the National Housing Federation's forecast, published on Tuesday, said.

Huge deposits, combined with high house prices and strict lending criteria, have sent home ownership into decline, the federation said.

The housing minister, Grant Shapps, admitted that "we have not been building enough homes", but insisted the government was "in the process of reversing that through massive planning reform" and a "massive programme" involving the release of thousands of acres of public land to build new homes.