Retirees spend record £3.7bn paying rent

Over the last 12 months retirees paid a total of £3.7bn in rent, up 216% from the £1.2bn they paid in 2007. This increase means that £1 in every £14 (or 7.3%) paid by tenants in Great Britain now comes from a pensioner.
 
In 2017 pensioners paid an average of £810 a month, up 0.3% on last year and 19% since 2007. Yet the average retiree paid 12% less than the typical tenant, because they were more likely to rent a smaller home. Retirees also make up a greater proportion of tenants in the places where rents are lowest.

Retired people now account for 8.0% of all tenants, compared with 5.2% in 2007. The largest proportion is in Wales, where nearly 1 in 5 (18%) of tenants are retired. The South West (13.0%) and the North East (10.1%) have the second and third largest proportion of retired tenants respectively. London, where just 3.5% of tenants are retired, has the fewest. Across Great Britain as a whole 53% of tenant pensioners live alone and 81% are over the age of 65.

Johnny Morris, Research Director at Countrywide, said: “The rental market can no longer be typified by the image of carefree, young professionals. More than half of tenants are over 30 and the number of pensioners renting has reached record levels. And with younger generations growing up much less likely to be homeowners, tenants are getting older with an ever more diverse group of people calling the rented sector home.

“Seven consecutive months of falling rents in the capital are starting to show signs of rippling out across the country with rents down in over half of regions outside London. The number of homes on the market remains well up on last years’ levels, softening rental growth.”