Part of it, here in Aberdeen at least, is that rental prices are extortionate, and if you can scrape together the money to buy, it's often much cheaper; I'm paying a little over half the rental cost of my flat in mortgage payments each month. Most other home-owners I know are in the same boat and save a lot by owning rather than renting. I realise there are added costs to owning, and it's not quite apples-to-apples, but I'm pretty sure we all still come out ahead at the end of the equation.

I realise I'm very fortunate to have been in the position to buy a place five years ago, and I'm grateful for the combination of fortuitous timing and hard-work paying off. That said, if I could have continued to rent affordably, I would probably still be renting today.

It goes back much longer. Thatcher's Right to Buy policy successfully tapped into this desire in 1980, and the rental market wasn't deregulated until 1988. Specifically, the properties covered by Right to Buy were strongly eviction-protected.