The housing market crisis will not be cured by political sticking-plaster

For a nation of renters, pledges by Ed Miliband on private-sector rents and David Cameron on right to buy are merely attacking the symptoms, not the causes

The political motivation for Ed Miliband's pledge to peg private-sector rents to inflation is simple. Britain used to be a nation of home owners but is becoming a nation of renters. For many young people, the dream of buying their own home is dying.

In the past 15 years, a century-long upward trend in owner-occupation has gone into reverse. Almost 70% of homes were owner occupied at the turn of the millennium; today the figure is below 64%, a marked decline in such a short time.