[esotericn]

Sure, I could, if I bought it.

It would be completely within my control (excepting the extremely rare case of eminent domain being applied if the UK wanted to build a railway station or something).

What the median or mean or modal person does is neither here nor there. It's completely irrelevant.

15 years is also a colossal period of time compared to any private rental. The average tenancy length in the UK is about 2-3 years.