There are now far more people in the UK property market who are finding themselves living in rental homes for a greater period of time, which has meant that there has been a rise in the number of long term tenancies, which are now becoming far more of a normality than they were in the past, even recent years. Gary Styles, strategy, risk and economics director at Hometrack, said that these will become even more prevalent in years to come due to the fact that both parties require it for security. On one hand, there are enants in the properties who want to make sure that they are getting security in the home that they are going to live in for a longer period, as well as ensuring that they have secured the same rate of rent over the time that they live there by signing a longer agreement. Then there are the property owners, who, in an increasingly competitive, want to ensure that they have a guaranteed income by making sure that they have tenants who will be staying put for a far longer period of time. Mr Styles said: "I think that we may well see a bit more of a trend towards that, particularly at the moment because we are seeing quite a sharp shift towards rental away from owner-occupation. There seems to be a growing recognition that longer-term arrangements would be a bit more appropriate, but I think it will take time." "The need for that guaranteed yield and locking in the yield could be a factor behind that. For those properties where there are likely to be void periods and issues then locking those yields in would be more attractive [to landlords]." The affordability of housing is affecting young people in a number of difficult ways at the moment. It was recently reported by Confused.com that the ever-increasing price of home deposits means that there are now far more young people looking to get onto the housing ladder via alternative methods such as buying with their friends.