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Thursday 5 November 2026
Inflation has risen to 3.1%, meaning everyday spending is getting more expensive just as household budgets are already under pressure.
A secure home is increasingly out of reach
High prices, costly rents and limited affordable housing make it difficult to find and keep a safe, suitable home.
In a nutshell
- A secure home is somewhere you can afford, keep and live in safely. Buying is only one way to achieve it.
- High purchase prices, costly rents and limited low-cost housing leave many people with few realistic choices.
- The pressure is uneven: housing affordability has improved on some measures, but too many households still face unsuitable homes or no settled home at all.
The basics
Housing policy is devolved. Most evidence here covers England; figures for other countries are labelled. The question is whether people can find and keep a suitable home, whether they own it or rent it.
Can you afford it?
Rent or mortgage payments must leave enough for ordinary life. Deposits, moving costs, repairs and heating also matter.
Can you stay?
A home offers security when you can make plans around it: work, school, neighbours and family support. Having a roof today does not guarantee a settled home tomorrow.
Does it meet your needs?
A suitable home is safe, warm, in reasonable repair and large enough. For someone with limited mobility, usable entrances, stairs and bathrooms matter too.
How big is the problem?
Buying remains a high hurdle
In 2025, the median home sold in England cost £300,000: 7.6 times median annual full-time earnings. In Wales the house price to earnings ratio was 6.0. [1]
This compares a sale price with one employee’s earnings. It is not a mortgage approval test or a measure of what every household can afford.
Rent absorbs a substantial share
For the year ending March 2024, average private rent in England equalled 36.3% of the median gross income of private-renting households. Wales was 25.9% and Northern Ireland 25.3%. [2]
This compares averages, rather than tracking each household’s actual housing cost burden. Gross income is before tax.
No settled place to live
On 31 March 2026, 135,580 households in England were in council-arranged temporary accommodation, including 177,530 children. The household total was a record high. [3]
Temporary accommodation is not the same as sleeping rough. A household may have a roof while still waiting for a settled home.
A home can be costly and poor
In 2024, 22% of privately rented dwellings in England failed the existing Decent Homes Standard, compared with 10% of social rented dwellings. [4]
The standard covers safety, repair, facilities and thermal comfort. Failure does not mean every affected property has the same defects.
Some households lack enough space
The English Housing Survey’s 2024–25 estimates put overcrowding at 9% of social-renting households and 6% of private-renting households. These use three survey years combined. [4]
Its bedroom standard considers the ages and relationships of household members, not simply how many people live there.
Low-cost homes are hard to replace
Between April 2012 and March 2024, councils in England sold over 124,000 homes through Right to Buy. Fewer than 48,000 replacement starts and acquisitions were recorded in that period. [5]
These figures concern this scheme, not all social housing construction. Housing completions matter too: starting a replacement does not mean it is ready to live in.
Example: working, renting and unable to settle
Grace and Imran rent a flat with their young son. This is a fictional illustration, not a reported case.
- Their combined take-home pay is £3,000 a month. Rent of £1,200 leaves £1,800 for bills, food, childcare, transport and saving.
- A 10% deposit on a £250,000 home is £25,000, leaving a mortgage with a 90% loan to value ratio. Saving £250 a month would take eight years and four months, assuming no interest or changes in prices, income or costs.
- A move could interrupt that saving and take them further from school or family support. A cheaper flat would not help if it were unsafe or unsuitable.
Their problem is the combination: a high monthly cost, a difficult route into ownership and few suitable alternatives.
How did we get here?
There is no single cause. Purchase prices, rents and access to social housing respond to different pressures.
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Too few suitable homes where they are needed
What happened
The supply of homes depends on land, planning, infrastructure, construction capacity and whether development is financially viable.
Why it matters
When suitable homes are scarce near work and services, people compete for them or accept longer journeys and less suitable accommodation.
What the evidence shows
The CMA’s 2024 study identified planning uncertainty and the limits of speculative private development as key reasons for persistent under-delivery in Great Britain. Builders pace sales to what the market will absorb. [6]
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Borrowing and demand affect purchase prices
What happened
House prices depend on what buyers can pay as well as how many homes exist. Interest rates and access to credit change that buying power.
Why it matters
A lower interest rate can make a larger loan manageable, helping buyers bid more. A higher rate can worsen mortgage affordability even if prices fall.
What the evidence shows
A 2019 Bank of England staff paper argued that falling real interest rates could explain the rise in house prices relative to incomes between 1985 and 2018. This is a research finding, not a complete explanation of today’s rents or local shortages. [7]
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Social housing has not been fully replenished
What happened
Right to Buy enabled council tenants to become owners, but the homes sold were not fully replaced through the scheme.
Why it matters
The opportunity gained by a buyer can mean one fewer low-rent home for a future household, unless a suitable replacement follows.
What the evidence shows
The government’s 2024 review found that the one-for-one replacement target introduced alongside higher discounts in 2012 had not been met. It also identified losses of larger family homes. [5]
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Housing support can fall behind local rents
What happened
For many private renters receiving benefits, help with rent is limited by Local Housing Allowance, a cap that depends on area and household needs.
Why it matters
If rent exceeds the support available, the household must cover the gap from other income or find a cheaper home.
What the evidence shows
In November 2025, IFS estimated that frozen caps had left more than a million affected households almost £1,500 a year worse off on average. This describes the position then, rather than a fresh estimate for 2026. [8]
Security is more than the price
In England, major private-renting reforms took effect on 1 May 2026. Landlords can no longer issue new section 21 “no fault” notices for tenancies covered by the reforms. They must use a valid possession ground, which can include selling or moving into the property. Certain earlier notices and court cases are subject to transition rules. [9] [10]
Stronger rights help, but do not guarantee a home for life. Rent still has to be affordable, repairs need to happen and tenants need practical access to enforcement.
Suitability matters too. A 2026 Commons committee report highlighted barriers to accessible private rented housing and evidence that poor conditions can harm physical and mental health. [11]
Who feels the pressure most?
People with little room in the budget
A rent increase or interruption to earnings is harder to absorb without savings. A shortfall in housing support adds another pressure.
People trying to establish a home
Deposits and borrowing requirements can block a first purchase. A single-income household has to meet the cost without a second salary.
Families who need stability
Among households with children in temporary accommodation in England on 31 March 2026, the most common recorded stay was two to five years. [3]
Disabled people and older residents
A home can be affordable yet unusable. Accessible layouts, adaptations and proximity to care or support can sharply narrow the available choices.
People in expensive local markets
In 2024, London’s average private rent equalled 41.6% of median private-renting household income. Most English regions were below the ONS 30% benchmark. [2]
People needing to leave quickly
After a relationship breakdown, domestic abuse or another crisis, people may need a safe home immediately. Waiting to save a deposit or for a vacancy may not be realistic.
Why is it hard to fix?
These are the main difficulties. The policy options are explored more fully on the matching housing solutions page.
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Building and repairing take time
The problem
New homes need land, infrastructure and construction. Existing homes also need investment, with disruption managed for the people living in them.
A possible fix
Combine a longer-term supply programme with immediate prevention of homelessness and better maintenance. Judge progress by usable homes, not announcements alone.
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More homes does not automatically mean affordable homes
The problem
A newly built home may still be beyond a low-income household’s budget, or in the wrong location or of the wrong size.
A possible fix
Assess rents and prices against local incomes, and include low-rent, family-sized and accessible housing alongside market supply.
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Affordability and owners’ interests can pull apart
The problem
Lower purchase prices help prospective buyers but can reduce existing owners’ equity. Recent buyers may owe more than their home is worth.
A possible fix
Aim for sustained improvements in costs relative to incomes, rather than depending on a sudden price crash. Income growth, lower rents and more low-cost homes offer different routes.
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Tenant protection needs workable enforcement
The problem
Rights on paper are limited if complaints take too long or repairs are not completed. Landlords also need workable routes to recover homes on legitimate grounds.
A possible fix
Make repair duties and possession rules clear, resource enforcement and courts, and monitor both tenant outcomes and the availability of homes to rent.
Where people disagree
The strongest disagreement is about the causes and the best response. Recognising variation does not remove the hardship faced by those without a suitable home.
Why this is a serious problem
- Access requires more than finding any roof: cost, condition, space and stability all matter.
- High rents make it harder to build savings, leaving people with fewer choices when circumstances change.
- Long stays in temporary accommodation show that emergency provision is not a substitute for settled housing.
- People who need low rents or accessible homes cannot necessarily solve the problem by moving elsewhere.
What complicates the picture
- Buying affordability in England and Wales improved after the 2021 peak; the trend is not a continuous worsening. [1]
- In 2024–25, 65% of households in England owned their home, including 36% who owned outright. The pressure differs greatly between households. [12]
- National rent ratios hide local differences and exclude people who have not managed to access private renting. [2]
- Credit conditions help explain purchase prices; construction, support and tenancy rules address different parts of the problem.
On balance
A secure home should not depend on owning one. The test is whether people can afford a suitable place, live there safely and make plans around it.
The evidence does not show every household becoming worse off every year. It does show substantial barriers to buying, pressure on renters and too many households without a settled home.
Addressing that means looking at supply, low-cost housing, conditions and security together. For the options, see Make housing affordable.
Sources and further reading
Sources checked on 4 October 2026. Figures retain their reference dates and geographical scope. These sources support the evidence; they do not all endorse the same policies.
- ONS: Housing affordability in England and Wales: 2025 (March 2026) — Median sale prices against individual full-time workplace earnings; recent improvements and regional differences.
- ONS: Private rental affordability, England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 2024 (2025) — Average rents relative to median gross income of private-renting households, and limitations of this measure.
- MHCLG: Statutory homelessness in England: January to March 2026 (August 2026) — Households and children in temporary accommodation, including the duration of stays.
- MHCLG: English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025, Chapter 1: Housing quality (January 2026) — Physical conditions in 2024, the existing Decent Homes Standard and three-year estimates of overcrowding.
- MHCLG: A review of the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012 (2024) — Council sales and replacement starts and acquisitions; these are not counts of completed new-build replacements.
- CMA: CMA finds fundamental concerns in housebuilding market (2024) — Planning uncertainty and the speculative development model in Great Britain.
- Bank of England: Staff Working Paper No. 837 (2019) — An explanation of long-run house-price rises based on falling real interest rates; the authors’ views, not an official Bank policy position.
- IFS: Freezes in housing support once again widen geographic disparities for low-income renters (November 2025) — Local Housing Allowance freezes and their effects; the estimates describe the position in late 2025.
- GOV.UK: Renters’ Rights Act overview for tenants (2026) — Private renting reforms in England from 1 May 2026; scope and possession grounds.
- GOV.UK: Notices of possession served before 1 May 2026: a guide for tenants — Transition arrangements for notices issued before the reforms.
- House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee: Housing Conditions in the Private Rented Sector (2026) — Evidence on accessibility, health, poor conditions and enforcement in England.
- MHCLG: English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025, demographics and household resilience: introduction and key findings (2025) — Tenure shares and outright ownership in England.
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