By Andrea Harper, Deputy Editor, Property Secrets

A radical change in the UK property market will see the rental sector increase its market share by up to 40% in the next decade according to the country's largest rental franchise.

Ian Wilson, managing director of Martin and Co, said: "The buy to let market hasn't even started to take off yet. Buy to let represented just 9% of the total housing stock in 1991 and today it is worth around 12% - yet this is already being called a boom - but it could hit 20% within the next decade.

"We are going to see a radical change in property tenure with home ownership and social housing falling and the private rental sector growing. Home ownership is something that is taken for granted but historically, just as recently as the end of the Second World War, the majority of housing in the UK was private rented accommodation."

And his predictions, which he says are conservative, are supported by Martin & Co's rapid growth and strong financial figures. Fee income in November is already up by 45% on the same period last year.