Safe as Houses

The forty years since the war have seen a revolution in housing tenure in Britain. In 1945 almost two-thirds of households rented their accommodation from private landlords. Only a quarter owned their own homes. By 1987 almost two-thirds of households owned or were buying their own homes. Since 1960 the number of home owners has more than doubled to 14 million, and Britain has changed from a nation of tenants to a nation of home owners.

The expansion of home ownership and rapid house price inflation have together led to dramatic changes in the role of owner occupied housing in the composition, distribution and inheritance of wealth in Britain. This book explores these changes and some of their important economic and social consequences. The authors provide unique data on housing inheritance, based on an ESRC and Housing Research Foundation-funded project, carried out at The Open University and the University of Wales College of Cardiff. They provide details of the occupational, income and demographic background of beneficiaries, of the use to which housing wealth has been put, and the impact of housing inheritance on the housing market. The authors also explore issues such as bequesting behaviour, the role of taxation in regulating the effects of inheritance, and the extent to which the rapid growth of home ownership and house price inflation makes Britain unique amongst Western countries.