ABSTRACT
Home ownership in Britain has undergone a remarkable expansion since the 1940s. In 1914 there were just 2 million owner occupied dwellings in England and Wales, and only 10% of households owned their own home. By 1938, after a decade of rapid speculative house building, the number of owner occupied dwellings had grown to almost 4 million and the proportion of home owners to 25%. By 1960, largely as a result of the sale of privately rented houses to tenants, the sector had grown to over 6 million and the proportion of homeowning households in Great Britain to 42%. The stock grew to over 8 million dwellings by 1970 and owner occupied households reached 50%. Today, there are some 16 million owner occupied dwellings in Britain (11 million owned on a mortgage, and 5 million owned outright) and 67% of households are home owners (Council for Mortgage Lenders, 1997; DoE, 1977).
