A “golden age of ownership” has come to end for many people who can no longer afford to buy a home and have been forced into rented accommodation, according to a report.
The Chartered Institute of Housing has warned of the rise of the “in-betweens” – people who are too well off to move into social housing but too poor to buy a house.

The shortage of homes was likely to become even more severe, it said, which meant that renting needed to be seen in a better light. It was time to move away from the notion of it being “right to buy and wrong to rent”.
The CIH called for reform of the arrangements for providing affordable housing to tackle this demand, but points to a wider range of rented housing options as an answer. This would require some policy changes, the institute said.
The CIH defines “in-betweens” as households on incomes between £12,000 and £25,000. Although house prices are below their peak of 2007, many commentators still see the market as overpriced, when based on the long-term relationship between earnings and home values.
Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, estimated in June that the UK was as much as 21 per cent overvalued based on its affordability ratio, and predicted another correction after recent price growth.
However, it also noted that demand for homes meant rents were moving up, and this could either postpone or soften any correction.
The CIH wants councils and housing associations to consider intermediate renting schemes offering homes below market rate. The government has supported initiatives to create a stronger private rental sector.
The CIH said: “We are moving into a period when there is going to be less public funding available to support provision of affordable housing.”