Mass immigration fuelled 23 per cent rise in rent prices, new report claims
The huge rise has made it impossible for young Brits to buying a home with figures showing 33 per cent of all renters in the UK are born overseas
YOUNG people have bore the brunt of mass immigration due to the soaring price of renting over the last decade, a damning report has found.
A study by Migrant Watch UK found rents across England has risen by 23 per cent over the last decade as supply has failed to keep pace with the rise in demand.
This has largely been driven by high levels of immigration, the think tank says.
Last night Migration Watch boss Lord Green accused the Government of being “in denial” about the massive impact of immigration on the housing market and demanded immediate measures to reduce demand for housing and increase supply.
Foreign born heads of households now account for a third of all rented homes - up from a fifth since 2000.
The think tank says the only winners are landlords, who have profited from the rocketing demand in the rental sector by hiking bills.
But the biggest losers are young Brits, who have faced sky high rents, making it harder to save for a deposit and leaving youngsters living with their parents longer into their 20s and even 30s.
Three in five 18-44 year-olds in Britain say they’ll be forced to put their lives on hold as a result of the housing crisis, according to the Shelter charity.
The share of 25-34-year-olds in England heading privately rented homes has nearly doubled over the past decade - while the proportion of homeowners in the same age bracket fell from 57 per cent to 38 per cent during the same period.
Migration Watch says London is bearing the brunt of the ballooning demand for rental properties due to unprecedented levels of net migration, which hit a staggering 330,000 a year in 2015.
The number of households renting in London has grown from 265,000 to 328,000 since 2008.
More than eight in ten of this growth have been households headed by a foreign-born national.
Over the same period, London rents have increased by 36 per cent - considerably more than the 21 per cent rise in average earnings over the decade.
The Migration Watch report argues that the rapid growth in the migrant population in the capital has put a “huge strain” on the city’s housing stock.
At the same time, London has lost more people to other parts of the UK than any other region of the country.
Chair of Migration Watch Lord Green said: “The government are in denial about the massive impact of immigration on the housing market.
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“While the older generation have been able to sit back and watch their properties shooting up in value, it is younger people who have mainly suffered the consequences with sky high rents and little prospect of owning their own home.
“This is frankly indefensible. The time has come for firm measures to address the demand for housing as well as its supply, and to acknowledge and deal with one of the main drivers of demand for housing.
“Otherwise, we will not only fail to meet demand but our young people will continue to bear the brunt of the housing crisis.”