The bar chart illustrates the proportion of dwellings in the United Kingdom that are owner-occupied and those that are rented, around England and Wales, from 1918 to 2011.
It is clear from the graph that the trend of the proportion of households in permanent ownership consistently outstripping the proportion of renting has been the opposite. Although both graphs show similarly shaped changes, the peak for owner-occupied dwellings is also higher than for rented dwellings. There has been a steady increase in the rate of home ownership, while the rate of renting has been falling for 93 years.
In terms of the percentage of families living in settlements owned by them, the proportions started in the lower 20% in 1918, before leveling off at around 30% by 1953. Then it was followed by a gradual increase with a relatively constant slope until the ratio peaked at around 69% in 2001, before falling back to the mid-60%。
By contrast, the percentage of families living in rented houses started at its highest level of almost 80%. However, it suddenly decreased moderately to approximately 68% over the period 1918-1939. Subsequently, the proportion dropped significantly by around 30% over approximately 40 years to its lowest recorded level before experiencing a modest increase in 2011.