The bar chart below compares the proportion of families who owned or rented accommodation in England and Wales in 1918 to 2011.
Upon initial observation, it is evident that two types of accommodation witnessed two opposite trends over a span of 93 years, with the percentage rented ones being higher than that of those owning their homes during the first half of the period; while a contradictory pattern was observed in the last 30 years.
In 1918, families renting homes accounted for more than 75%, approximately triple that of those owning accommodation. In the next 53 years, this figure dropped dramatically to just 50%, although a period of stability had been seen between 1939 and 1953. On the contrary, the proportion of families possessing homes, which was standing at just under 25% in 1918, more than doubled over the 53-year period and thus rose to equal that of those renting homes in 1971.
In the final 30-year period, the rate of homeownership kept soaring and finally reached a peak of nearly 70% in 2001, before declining slightly by around 5% at the end of the period. Meanwhile, the rate of tenants experienced a rapid decrease to just above 30% in 2001, followed by a small growth of roughly 5% by 2011.