Craig Stirrat

With the impending establishment of More Homes Scotland is this not the time for Scottish society to rethink its relationship with housing and challenge the long-standing assumption that homeownership is always the best or most successful housing outcome?

As Scotland seeks to increase the supply of homes across different tenures, the debate should not focus solely on the number of homes being built. It should also consider the way people think about housing, ownership and renting.

For generations, owning a home has been closely associated with security, independence and financial success. Renting, by contrast, has often been regarded as a temporary stage on the journey towards the ultimate goal of homeownership.

This attitude remains widespread: the 2023 British Attitudes Survey found that, if given a completely free choice, 90% of people would prefer to buy rather than rent. However, we need to fundamentally consider if this traditional way of thinking remains appropriate at a time of continued economic uncertainty, high housing costs and increasing pressure on household finances.

The central argument is not that homeownership is undesirable. Buying a home remains an important ambition for many people and can provide significant long-term financial benefits. Instead, we should educate households (particularly young households) whether ownership should automatically be regarded as the best choice for everyone. The most important consideration, may not be whether someone owns the property, but whether they have access to a safe, secure, affordable and suitable place to live.

For instance, we should consider comparing changing attitudes towards housing with the changing attitudes towards car ownership.

In the past, people generally saved money to buy a car outright. Today, many people use finance arrangements such as Personal Contract Purchase or Hire Purchase, prioritising access to a reliable vehicle and manageable monthly payments rather than outright ownership.

However, attitudes towards housing remain very different. Most people continue to aspire to own their homes, even though mortgages may take 25 or 30 years to repay. In Scotland, around 69% of residential property transactions involve mortgage finance, meaning that many people considered homeowners will spend much of their working lives paying for their property. This raises the question of whether the real priority should be owning bricks and mortar or having a secure, suitable and affordable home.

The UK’s strong attachment to homeownership has deep historical roots. Homeownership expanded significantly from the 1950s to the early 2000s, supported by rising incomes, expanding mortgage markets, government policies and initiatives such as Right to Buy. Over time, property became more than simply somewhere to live. It became an investment, a source of wealth and an asset that could be passed on to future generations.

However, the circumstances facing households today are different. House prices remain high compared with incomes, raising a sufficient deposit can be difficult, and the average age of first-time buyers has increased.

In Scotland, first-time buyers tend to be somewhat younger than elsewhere in the UK, with an average age in the early thirties, but the number of buyers under 25 has fallen significantly. As a result, the path to homeownership is becoming longer and more difficult, particularly for young and single households. This does not mean that buying a home is the wrong choice, but it does challenge the assumption that ownership is the only successful housing outcome.

A major issue is the stigma attached to renting, particularly social and affordable housing. Social renting is often viewed as a last resort rather than a positive choice. Decades of reduced housing supply and allocation systems increasingly focused on households with the greatest needs have contributed to the perception of social housing as a residual safety net.

This stigma is damaging for many households as a successful home should not be judged according to who owns the title deeds. Instead, it should be judged by whether it is safe, secure, affordable and appropriate for the needs of the people living in it.

High-quality affordable rented homes can provide many of the things households actually want, including stability, manageable housing costs and freedom from responsibility for major repairs.

As a Sector we need to do more to ensure that these advantages are recognised and celebrated more openly.

We should also challenge the simplified view of homeownership as an automatic route to wealth. Buying a home involves much more than simply paying a mortgage and building equity. Buyers must initially find money for a deposit, legal costs and potentially Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. Once they own the property, they also become responsible for its maintenance and repair.

Unexpected problems such as a broken boiler, leaking roof, replacement windows or a failing heating system can result in substantial costs. It is estimated that maintaining and upgrading a typical three-bedroom home over a 30-year period could cost between £65,000 and £115,000, depending on the property and the improvements required.

Owners of traditional tenements or flats may face even greater costs because of major repairs and shared maintenance responsibilities. In areas such as Aberdeen, negative equity can also prevent homeowners from moving to properties that are more suitable for their changing circumstances. These risks do not mean that homeownership is a bad investment, but they demonstrate that the true cost of ownership extends far beyond the monthly mortgage payment.

Affordable renting offers a different financial model. Upfront costs are generally much lower because tenants do not need to save for a substantial deposit or pay the same survey and legal costs associated with purchasing a home. More importantly, responsibility for major structural repairs and much of the maintenance usually remains with the landlord. If a boiler fails or a roof leaks, tenants are generally protected from having to find thousands of pounds to resolve the problem.

Although renting does not build financial equity in the same way as ownership, it can provide another form of financial security: protection from large and unpredictable expenses. The choice between renting and buying should therefore not be reduced to the idea that renting means “getting nothing back” while paying a mortgage automatically creates wealth. Both options involve different costs, benefits and risks.

Security is another area where we should challenge conventional thinking. Homeownership can provide significant long-term security, particularly once a mortgage has been paid off. Around two-thirds of Scottish householders aged 65 and over live without a mortgage. However, even mortgage-free homeowners may struggle with the costs of maintaining their properties, especially pensioners on lower incomes living in older traditional built homes such as tenements.

Security, therefore, does not exist only through ownership. A secure tenancy in a well-managed and affordable home can also offer stability. For some households, predictable housing costs and professional maintenance may be more valuable than building housing equity.

Countries such as Germany and Switzerland demonstrate that homeownership is not the only model of housing success. Both have lower homeownership rates and stronger traditions of long-term renting, where renting is regarded as a mainstream choice rather than merely a temporary step before buying.

Ultimately, attitudes to our homes requires a cultural change. Homeownership should remain an aspiration for those who want it, but it should not be treated as a social expectation or a measure of personal success.

Renting should not be viewed as evidence that someone has failed to buy a home. Housing success should instead be measured by whether a home is safe, affordable, suitable and secure, and whether it enables people to live the lives they want. 

With radical changes coming in the housing sector – It is time to challenge the stigma surrounding renting and to recognise that a secure, affordable rented home can be a positive and rational choice in its own right.

The future of housing should focus not on persuading everyone to become homeowners, but on ensuring that everyone has access to a home they can afford, feel secure in and be proud to call their own.