37% of landlords expect tenant demand to grow during 2020, compared to 7.3% predicting a fall, according to latest research from Paragon.

The forecast comes on the back of a strong end to 2019, with 27% of landlords experiencing an increase in tenant demand during the final quarter of the year.

Richard Rowntree, Paragon managing director of mortgages, said: “Although home ownership is increasing on the back of government policies, there is clearly still growing demand for rented property for a variety of reasons.

“We expect to see tenant demand to continue to increase in the coming years and it’s important the private rented sector is adequately financed to ensure tenants have a good choice of property and rental inflation is kept under control.”

The government’s recent English Housing Survey found that the number of households in the private rented sector has remained unchanged at 4.6 million, or 19% of all housing tenures.

However, the length of time households are staying in private rented property is increasing, from an average of 4.1 years to 4.4 years.

The report also found that over the past decade, the proportion of 55-64 year-olds in private rented accommodation increased from 7% to 10%.