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New parents as likely to live in private rented housing than owning homes as cost of owning competes with raising children

YOUNG people are now just as likely to become parents while living in private rented accommodation as they are while owning their own home, a new study revealed today.

Researchers at the University of Southampton’s Centre for Population Change said that their findings — based on analysis of changes during a decade of Tory austerity — show a definite shift away from a time when parents were more likely to be homeowners.

The study found that up until 2012, the likelihood of conceiving a first child was significantly higher for those owning their home, compared with private tenants, regardless of socio-economic or demographic status.

But since 2013, the data showed a “clear change in the relationship,” suggesting the cost of home ownership is now in direct competition with that of raising children.

Research lead Professor Ann Berrington warned of “significant implications for parenthood in general.

“If home ownership is increasingly competing with the costs of having children, then it is likely that those who do manage to buy a home might well postpone or even forgo having children,” she said.

“So the families that people may have planned to have will be unfulfilled for many young people now reaching the traditional parenthood ages.”

Professor Berrington demanded more protections for the growing number of people in “un-family friendly, unregulated, and insecure” private rented accommodation.

She said: “Policies need to address the large regional disparities in housing affordability; for example, by improving availability in high-cost areas [and] encouraging job formation in areas where housing is more affordable.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was contacted for comment. 

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