PRIVATE RENTING IN THE 1990S

This introduction to the four papers which together make up the focus issue on private renting has three aims. First, it draws out some of t heir common themes. Second, it looks in more detail at definitions of private renting and how these relate to the sector's size and function s. Finally, it attempts to clarify the more fundamental attributes of demand and supply of privately rented accommodation and thus the facto rs which tend to result in the sector playing different roles in diffe rent countries.