The bar chart above provides an illustration about the proportion between owned and rented

households from 1918 to 2011.

In general, there were dramatic changes in both buying and renting accommodation during the
period. It is clearly seen that buying house experienced an upward trend while rented
accommodation showed a downward trend.
In 1918, the percentage of rented households was slightly under 80% which was nearly three
times of the percentage of owned households. However, after around 50 years, the ratio
changed radically from 3:1 to 1:1. In 1971, rented accommodation proportion dropped
drastically to 50% which was equal to owned household percentage. After 1971, owned
property took over the households market and it rose to peak at approximately 70% in 2001.
On the other hand, rented accommodation kept decreasing through 30 years and reach its
bottom at more or less than 30% in 2001, which was half of owned households. Even though
there was a slight change in both proportion, owned accommodation still held a very large
majority, around 65%.