Question
Answer
The bar chart shows the percentage of people in England and Wales who owned or rented their
property over a period of nearly one hundred years, beginning in 1918 and ending in 2011. The data
is inversely correlated, meaning that as the number owners increased, the number of renters
decreased.
In 1918, accommodations were overwhelmingly rented, with nearly 80% of people renting their
homes rather than owning them. Twenty years later, this figure had dropped to less than 70% of
people, and there was no change over the next decade and a half.
From 1961 onwards, the percentage of people owning a home exploded, while the number of
renters went into free fall. For thirty years this trend continued, until around the millennium it
slowed down, and finally began to reverse in 2011. Between 2001 and 2011, the percentage of
homeowners decreased for the first time in more than a half century.
