How many UK renters became homeowners last year

Nearly 200,000 UK households moved out of the private rented sector and into home ownership in 2024/25, according to English Housing Survey data.

Around 100,000 households made the opposite move over the same period, leaving owner occupation for a private rented home.

“The moves between tenure types are still significant,” said Robert Gardner, Chief Economist at Nationwide. Around three quarters of all household moves in 2024/25 took place within the same tenure type, with only a quarter crossing between them.

Moves within the private rented sector formed the largest single share of activity at 640,000, nearly twice the number recorded within owner occupation. Nationwide published the figures alongside its July house price index.

Private renters in the UK stay in the same home for around five years on average, the shortest span of any tenure type, according to the latest English Housing Survey.

The average conceals heavy turnover at the short end. Around half of private renters have lived in their current property for two years or less, a skew running in the opposite direction to outright owners, a third of whom have stayed put for 30 years or more.

The sector also drives more movement than any other. Households moving from one private rented home to another accounted for 640,000 moves in 2024/25, nearly twice the number moving within the owner-occupier sector, making it the single largest component of UK housing market activity.

Average length of residence in the private rented sector has crept up slightly over the past decade. Over the same period, the average for households buying with a mortgage has edged down.

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