# A century of homeownership and renting in England and Wales

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2014-06-09

berlin, england, homeownership, housing-market, housing-policy, london, real-estate, rental, renting, uncategorized, united-states, us, wales

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This morning while I was reading about [gentrification in Berlin](http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/11/unaffordable-cities-berlin-rent-green-laws), I clicked through to an interesting [overview of homeownership and renting in England and Wales over the last century](http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/a-century-of-home-ownership-and-renting-in-england-and-wales/short-story-on-housing.html). Here’s a video. If you can’t see it below, [click here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnGryGJ1ZA#t=184).

\[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnGryGJ1ZA\]

The video starts in 1918, where the vast majority of households (77%) rented. As of 2011, this number has reversed. 64% of households in England and Wales now own their home.

If you compare this housing trend to what happened in the United States and Canada, you’ll see a similarity. Although, the US was ahead in terms of promoting homeownership. They reached 50% ownership somewhere in the mid 1940s, whereas England and Wales didn’t reach this number until around 1971.

All of this is an interesting reminder that our obsession with homeownership is a relatively new one. But it’s also not a universal one. The homeownership rate in Berlin is [15.6%](http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/11/unaffordable-cities-berlin-rent-green-laws), and it’s only [49.5%](http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/a-century-of-home-ownership-and-renting-in-england-and-wales/short-story-on-housing.html) in London. People in big cities tend to rent more.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/a-century-of-homeownership-and-renting-in-england-and-wales)*