MORE people in Dorset would rather rent than buy a home, according to new statistics.

Research published by letting agents Endsleigh reveals that Dorset is the sixth most popular area in the UK for renters.

The data, which ranks the 10 most popular areas in the UK for renting, shows that Middlesex is the most popular with over three times as many renters than buyers living there.

Dorset ranks as the sixth most popular with 25 per cent more people renting than buying in the county.

The research also suggests that renters said they liked the flexibility of renting because there is more freedom to move between areas and into different types of accommodation.

Joanna Daley, who rents a three-bedroom house in Poundbury with estate agent Goadsby, based in Dorchester, said there were many advantages to renting.

Mrs Daley lives with her husband Nick and children five-year-old Connie and eight-month-old Evie.

She said: “There are advantages to renting.

“One is that your responsibilities for the big property problems are not there. If something goes wrong all you have to do is pick up the phone and know it will be dealt with.

“I think it also allows you to jump those first couple of rungs on the ladder.

“If you decide to buy, you generally have to buy smaller homes to start off with before you accrue enough equity to increase the property size.”

However Mrs Daley said she and her husband did aspire to own a property.

She said: “For us, it really is the current economic climate which is making it difficult for us to buy, but there are advantages.”

David Cumming, senior negotiator at the Dorchester office of Goadsby and Harding, said he had definitely seen a rise in interest in the rental market. He added: “There are not enough properties around for the demand.

“I have heard comments from people in the past that they can have rented accommodation and live in a very nice house for X amount a month but if they had a mortgage they could live in a not so nice property for the same amount per month.

“A lot of people also move around for jobs and they don’t want to be committed to an area or a property.”

The results are based on a tenancy survey in April 2011, which received 65,856 responses and Experian credit checks in 2010 and 2011.

The report ranks towns and cities by comparing the frequency of credit checks between towns and cities, rather than simply looking at the total number.