Renting is an aspiration, says minister

A government has claimed "well-off" people living in London and the south-east should be aspiring to living in a rented home rather than buying their own.

Jonathan Shaw, the minister for the south-east, said that people should not be put off from renting property despite perceptions that it was mainly for people on low incomes.

Mr Shaw was giving evidence to a Commons committee for the region when he said renting should be seen as a similar aspiration to home ownership and renting is "perfectly desirable and meets needs and aspirations".

"It should be seen more as something that people across the socioeconomic spectrum do - not, as it is perhaps sometimes characterised, as just for people who are less well off," he said.

His comments have been supported by a number of property experts who claim high houses prices leave fewer options, according to This Is London.

The Conservatives have criticised Mr Shaw for what they claim is "downgrading aspiration".

In the UK the number of loans to first-time buyers dropped during February.

The claims of Mr Shaw will no doubt interest people looking for property to rent in the London borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

By Charles Mackay

Published 17th March, 2010

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