THE number of people in Scotland renting from private landlords more than doubled in a decade as the property ladder was drawn up behind an entire generation.

Newly released census figures show 325,000 Scottish households were living in private lets in 2011, up from just over 147,000 in 2001.

The statistics underline dramatic changes in the housing market that leading economists believe are cementing social inequality.

David Eiser, of Stirling University, said: "The big picture is a decrease in social housing and a huge rise in the prices of property. So, if you can't afford to buy, you have no choice but to go to the private letting market."

The census also shows the absolute number of households of owner-occupiers has hit a record high, of 1.5 million. However, as the overall number of households also rose, to nearly 2.5 million, this means the overall proportion of owner-occupying households edged down over the decade, to 62 per cent from 63 per cent.

This near high, however, still represents a historic transfor­mation in Scotland after Margaret Thatcher's right-to-buy revolution moved the country closer to an Anglo-Saxon model of mass home ownership.

Mr Eiser said: "In the late-1970s about 60 per cent of Scottish households were in the social rented sector, while one-third were owner-occupied. By the mid-1990s about 60 per cent of Scottish households were owner-occupiers."

Mr Eiser and colleague David Bell, in a new study released separately yesterday, recognised that right-to-buy for council houses and financial deregulation drove home ownership up until the 1990s. But their research shows that for the past 20 years home ownership has declined among the under-35s.

He said: "Our research shows virtually all of the growth in home ownership since the mid-1990s is accounted for by those aged above 45. This wedge between the fortunes of the generations is driven by the dramatic growth in house prices, which more than doubled in Scotland in real terms in the 10 years before the recession.

"Scotland's young are thus increasingly likely to rely on inheritances to get on the property ladder.

"But inheritances are extremely unequally distributed. And given the continuing decline in avail­ability of social rented accommodation, those unable to buy face a choice between private rented accommodation (where above inflation housing costs have not been offset by falling interest rates, further limiting ability to save) or staying on in the family home."

The result, Mr Eiser and Mr Bell found, was declining social mobility.

Buy-to-let landlords bought up large chunks of Scottish real estate during the boom years - and since, with low-interest rates making property a real alternative to saving. However, privately let homes also tend to include some of the lowest quality property in the country.

Yesterday's census figures reveal only 55,000 Scottish households do not have central heating - two per cent of the total. But this figure rises to six per cent for privately rented accommodation, far higher than for homes of any other kind of tenure. Just one per cent of households in socially rented property had no central heating.

Overall, 36 per cent of Scottish households are in flats; but this rises to 61 per cent for those who rent privately.