The private rental sector accounted for 4.4 million or 19% of households in 2019/20, ONS figures have revealed.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, this held steady at around 10%.
In the past 10 years, the percentage of 35 to 44-year-olds in private rental accommodation has risen from 17% to 27%.
36% of private renters have children. The number of households in this position has risen 547,000 in a decade.
Only 56% of those aged 35-44 are owner occupiers – down from 67% a decade earlier.
Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Parents are increasingly likely to be trapped in a rental cycle. Renting for longer means life is catching up with them, so over a third of renters have children. Once you have kids, often your income takes a hit, and your outgoings soar, which means you’re even less likely to be able to put money aside for a property deposit. The huge burden of paying rent doesn’t help, soaking up almost a third of the income of renters before they start.
“It’s not just the financial implications of renting with children. Parents on short lets also have to deal with the threat their landlord will hike the rent to unaffordable levels or decide to sell up, so they’ll be forced to move. This is difficult for anyone, but when you’re juggling the needs of everyone in the family, it can cause enormous headaches.
“These expensive years can also mean renting parents have to dial down their saving, which can push property ownership even further out of reach. It may mean these parents can never afford to buy, so face having to pay rental in retirement, which comes with a whole new set of challenges.”
