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Wednesday 23 February 2011

Why are the British obsessed by owning their own home?

Why are the British obsessed by owning their own home? This is the tone of some recent BBC coverage of the property market. Leaving aside the fact that the BBC's obsession with programmes devoted to moving up the housing ladder prior to the crash, is this even true? I have heard 'experts' state that in Europe they are happy to rent, is that true?

Below is a graph showing 'Population by tenure status, 2009'
So the UK has a lower percentage of house purchasers (as opposed to renters) than:
Norway, Iceland, Luxembourg, Finland, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Malta, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Romania. In fact the only countries with a smaller owner-occupied sector are France, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. I do not know why Germany is not on the chart at all, any ideas?

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