THE sale of many of Britain’s council homes in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher’s “right to buy” policy was designed to bring homeownership to the masses. Homeownership did increase, from 55% of households in 1980 to 69% in 2002. But since then it has fallen back. Between 2004 and 2013 the number of owner-occupied homes in Britain dropped from 18m to 17.7m. Over the same period private-rental properties rose from 3m to 5.2m.

This shift from ownership to rental will continue, according to new analysis by PwC, an accountancy firm. It predicts that homeownership will decrease to 60% of households by 2025 and that the rental sector will grow to 24%, an astonishing rise from 9% in 2000. In London, for the first time since the second world war the proportion of homes that are privately rented will draw level with the proportion that are owner-occupied.

The continuing outpacing by house prices of average earnings means that first-time buyers will struggle to move out of rented accommodation and onto the property ladder. By 2025 homeownership around the country will be only four percentage points higher than it was in 1980. Even Thatcher’s “right to buy” may have done less than thought to increase homeownership. An investigation last year by Insider Housing, a news website, found that two-fifths of the council homes that were sold off are now privately rented properties.