The "golden age of home ownership" is over, says a report by a distinguished housing organisation. But could the British ever learn to love renting?

It is as much a national obsession as football, pets and complaining about the weather.

For millions, the ideal of buying, owning and making a hefty profit from one's own home has gone from a dream to an expectation, and fuelled an insatiable demand for TV property programmes.

But in the post-credit crunch world, reality is slipping behind the fantasy of ever-rising prices and a mortgage for all.

According to a report by the Chartered Institute of Housing, the era of the owner-occupier could be in decline, with millions facing a lifetime as tenants rather than freeholders.

With council and local authority homes now stigmatised and apparently reserved for the very worst-off, journalist Penny Anderson, author of the Renter Girl blog - in which she covers housing issues as well as her own experiences as a tenant in Glasgow - says the British will begrudge renting privately until they enjoy similar rights to their counterparts in Germany.

"It's very hard to find anything positive about renting in this country," she says.

"It doesn't feel like living in a home - it's insecure, you can't decorate, you can't have pets. You feel like you're living in someone else's piggy bank."

Indeed, for now it appears unlikely that most Britons will voluntarily choose to become long-term renters until the financial and legal status of tenants changes.

Just caught a glimpse of that myself. We are a nation obsessed with owning. In Germany people mainly rent.

I wouldn't hold your breath for the Lib-Con alliance to legislate in favour of tenants any time soon.

In my girlfriend's family, only the youngest generation (18 to 25) rent, the rest all have their own homes. I rented when I first came here, it is certainly more flexible, you aren't as restricted when it comes to work, you can just up and move in a couple of months, you don't have to try and sell the old house and find a new one to buy.

I don't know what the percentages are in Germany, but I would think they are certainly much higher for rented accomodation, than in the UK.

Renting is higher in places like Germany but tennants have far more rights than they do here.

The golden age of home ownership is not over. What's over is the golden age of stupidity, ie people who borrow against the value of their home.

What, you mean like a mortgage?

I meant people who go "My house value has gone up £20k, I'll take out a loan and buy a sports car".