The pie charts compare home ownership and renting for 1991 and 2007 in percentage terms. In 1991, homeowners were the most popular type of housing, accounting for 60%, or more than over half of all homes. The next largest sector was social rented homes, amounting to 23% or nearly one-third of homes. The remaining homes were mostly privately rented (11%) with a tiny fraction being social housing (6%).
Sixteen years later, in 2007, the number of home owners had risen to 70%, or almost three quarters of all homes. This was an increase of 10% compared with 1991. Much of the increase in home ownership can be explained by the decrease in social rented homes, which had dropped from 23% to 17%.
The percentage of privately rented homes had remained unchanged at 11%. However, there were 5 million more homes in 2007 compared with 1991 so the number of rented homes had increased despite the same percentage. Social housing has decreased three-fold from 6% in 1991 to 2% in 2007, and it remains the least popular type of housing.