A pair of pie charts illustrated the percentage of houses owned and rented in the UK in the years 1991 and 2007.
Overall, most of the UK houses were owned during both of the given years, while the rest of the houses were categorized into three distinct renting sectors, namely social renting, private renting, and social housing.
To begin with, in 1991, there were 22 million houses in the UK and the majority of all the houses were occupied by their owners (60%). Social renting was the most popular option among all three, with 23% of all the houses being rented this way. Private renting and social housing were the least popular types of house rentals, with figures standing at 11% and 6%, respectively.
By 2007, the total number of houses in the UK had increased to 27 million. Similarly, a significant proportion of homes were owner-occupied, 70% to be exact. In contrast, the figures for social renting decreased over time, now standing at 17% in 2007. However, private renting figures have remained the same in both of these time periods. Social housing has become even more uncommon – 2% in 2007, compared to 6% in 1991.