Who Owns the Roof Over Our Heads? And why it matters

Generation Alpha – the iPad-native, AI-normal, children of Millennials who think global videos, climate chat, and hand sanitiser are just… life.  They’re also the least likely generation to ever own their own home.

As it stands many Millennial parents will not get to see their children own their own home.  That matters. As property ownership centralises – so does wealth.  The more wealth is centralised the less money the majority of the population have, which slows economic growth as there is less to spend.  We all know the rest – its our lived reality.

Housing, Wealth, and the Quiet Reshaping of England

Wealth doesn’t just live in pensions or pay packets—it lives in bricks and mortar. Property is the backbone of intergenerational wealth, the buffer against hardship, the inheritance that shapes opportunity. So when we ask, “Who owns the homes?” what we’re really asking is: “Who holds the wealth?” Over the last 50 years, housing has become the dominant store of wealth in England. In the 1970s, residential property accounted for about a quarter of national wealth—far behind business assets and more evenly distributed across sectors. Today, it makes up nearly half, driven by soaring land values and decades of house price inflation. This isn’t just a market story—it’s the product of decades of policy choices that have shifted wealth into housing and tilted the ladder of opportunity toward those who already own.  So when we ask, “Who owns the homes?” what we’re really asking is: “Who holds the wealth?”

More Homes, Fewer People per Door

Since the 1970s, the number of households in England has grown steadily—from about 16 million then to around 23.5 million today. At the same time, the number of adults living in private homes has increased from roughly 33 million to 43.5 million. That’s fewer people per home, on average, and a rise in single-person and small households.  But while we’ve built more homes, ownership hasn’t spread equally – more on that later.

Empty Homes, Untapped Wealth

There are over 699,000 vacant dwellings in England. That’s nearly 3% of the total housing stock—and more than a quarter million have been empty for six months or more. These homes sit unused while waiting lists for housing stretch into the millions. In wealth terms, that’s hundreds of billions of pounds in underused or idle assets—concentrated in the hands of people or entities who can afford to let them sit.

The Disappearing Safety Net: Social Housing

In 1980, England had around 5.5 million social rented homes. Today? Closer to 4.1 million. Over two million public homes have been sold under Right to Buy—many ending up in the private rental market. Meanwhile, new social housing construction has collapsed.

This erosion of public housing stock has pushed lower-income households into the private sector, where rents are higher and more volatile. For these households, wealth isn’t building—it’s bleeding, month by month, in rent.

Rise of the Corporate Landlord

The housing market isn’t just dominated by individuals anymore. In 2024, more than 60,000 new buy-to-let companies were registered, and around three-quarters of new BTL purchases went into company structures. This shift—fueled by tax incentives—means more properties are being pulled into corporate portfolios, where the aim is yield, not housing security.

That matters. It changes how homes are bought, managed, and priced—and it concentrates property wealth among those who can afford to operate at scale.

Price vs Pay: The Growing Divide

If housing is wealth, then the price of entry keeps rising.  House prices have soared well ahead of wages. In 1997, the average house cost about 3.5× median earnings. Today, as reported by ONS, it’s closer to 9× with many areas far higher.  For most first-time buyers, especially without family help, owning a home means taking on debt that shadows decades of future earnings. That shifts wealth creation into the hands of those who already have it—and locks out many who don’t.

Reform and the Edges of Progress

There have been efforts to nudge the system. The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 scrapped exploitative ground rents on new leases—removing a cost that offered no benefit to owners. Meanwhile, Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) have proliferated in cities, offering lower-cost shared housing options—but often at the cost of stability and long-term wealth building.

So Where’s the Wealth Going?

Today’s housing system increasingly stores wealth, rather than shares it. Properties are assets. Empty homes are investments. Renting is a cost, not a step. And ownership—a ladder of mobility—has become more fortress than foundation.

The Fix Isn’t Just More Homes

To rebalance housing as a path to wealth—not just a reflection of it—we need:

• More consistent, affordable supply in areas of high need
• Better use of existing stock (e.g. bringing long-term empties back into circulation)
• Transparent ownership data (to track who’s gaining from the system)
• Targeted support for renters and first-time buyers that doesn’t inflate prices further

Because the real housing question isn’t just about numbers—it’s about who owns what, and whether the next generations has any real shot at catching up.

Written by: David Chapman and Chris Duncalf