The Most Relevant UK Housing Statistics & Facts

The UK Government’s current goal, at the time of writing, is to build 300,000 homes a year. However, UK housing shortage stats show that, at that rate, it would take 50 years to fill out the deficit with current population growth. Handling it within the next 25 years would require 442,000 homes or 654,000 homes within the next ten years.

(Centre for Cities)

Indeed, 67% of homes in England (excluding London) are occupied by their owners. On average (including London), 64% of households are occupied by their owners.

Furthermore, 29% of households are private renters in London, and 22% are social renters. In contrast, in the rest of England, it's 17% for private renting and 16% for social renting.

(GovUK)

In general, 3% of the total population, or around 732,000 households, live in such conditions.

The highest prevalence of overcrowding can be found among social housing renters, with the lowest being in owner-occupied homes.

While 325,000 of social housing households are overcrowded, at 8%, the overcrowding among private renters is at 5%, or 237,000 households, while only 1% of owner-occupied households can be characterized as overcrowded.

(GovUK)

According to housing statistics from 2018, 17% of the population in England lived in social housing. White British households were closest to the average, with 16% living in rented social housing.

Besides the Indian demographic, 10% of the Chinese population, alongside 11% of White Other households, lived in social housing as well.

(GovUK)

While many claim that the region’s housing issue began in the 1980s with the Right To Buy act, ample evidence suggests these issues began right after WWII with the Town and Country Planning Act.

In fact, housebuilding rates in England and Wales were at a 2% year-over-year growth between 1856 and 1939. After the Town and Country Planning act, rates dropped to 1.2%.

(Centre for Cities)

And that is not nearly enough.

While it may seem that population growth is not only matched but exceeded by the number of dwellings being built, the core issue is that there were not enough homes within both the English and the UK housing market to begin with.

Furthermore, vacant dwelling numbers are different across the country. There are significantly fewer vacant dwellings in the South of England than in the North.

(Sky News)

Some think of it as little bits of history, others as headaches. If you are interested in checking the age of property by postcode, there is a specialized website that can let you do just that.

History is less present among social buildings, however. Around 17% of dwellings in the social sector were built before 1945. However, the majority of social housing was built between 1945 and 1980, at around 56% of all current social housing.

Another 38% of housing associate dwellings were built after 1980, while only 10% of local authority dwellings were built in the same period.

(GovUK)

While this drop is evident across England, it’s the most notable in South East and Outer London.

Furthermore, youth home ownership became even worse for poorer segments of the population. Roughly 11% of the bottom two-fifths of young people in terms of income own their homes today. In 1989, roughly 24% owned their own home.

(Resolution Foundation)

This is an actual increase of 18% when compared to 2020. The numbers are obviously problematic, pointing towards the severe lack of housing in the UK.

(Gov.scott)

In fact, 78.2% of older households live in their own homes, almost 12 percentage points more than the NE average. Furthermore, households with children rent the most, with 28.6% living in private renting arrangements.

However, it needs to be mentioned that all three groups are similarly distributed among social housing. Around 14.3% of older households live in social housing, as do 16.1% of households with children, and 17.2% of adult households. The national average is 16%.

(Department for Communities)

House prices in the UK have been steadily increasing for years now. By the end of 2022, the average price for a house reached £294,000. And with current UK inflation rates as high as they were in the 1980s, things are probably only going to get worse.

Looking at a country-by-country basis in the region, average housing prices and their increases were as follows:

• England - £315,000, with a 10.3% increase

• Wales - £222,000, with a 10.3% increase

• Northern Ireland - £175,000, with a 10.2% increase

• Scotland - £187,000, with a 5.7% increase.

On a region-by-region basis, the highest increase was seen in the East Midlands, with a 12.3% increase, while London had the lowest increase, of 6.7%.

(Office for National Statistics)

And unlike most of the data within this article, there is no significant difference between London (the average buyer is 34) and the rest of the country (33 years old).

Furthermore, on average, 38% of first-time buyers in England are couples without dependent children, 24% were couples with dependent children, and 29% were one-person households.

Their average deposit is £43,693, or a median of £30,000.

(GovUK)

Namely, housing statistics show that the average weekly mortgage payment in London amounts to £336, while in the rest of England, it's at £183. The total average for the entire country, London included, is £204.

However, the median weekly mortgage payment for London is £277, while being £144 for the rest of England, and £154 per week in total for the entire country.

These are especially damning numbers when you consider that the average personal debt in the UKis £64,970 per household.

(GovUK)

Furthermore, private renters spend 33% of their income on rent, while social renters spend 27%. However, if we include joint incomes, i.e., both the incomes of the renter/mortgager and their partner, then they spend 23% of their income on the mortgage, 30% on social housing rent, and 37% on private rent.

We also need to mention that if we excluded housing support, then social renters would be paying 40% of their income on their homes.

The likely cause behind this discrepancy is that people with joint incomes live in larger dwellings, both for them and likely for their children, and so a larger share of joint income goes to rent compared to individuals.

(GovUK)

The largest increase was found in Scotland, at 4.4%, while rent in England and Wales increased by 4.1%, as well as an estimated increase of 4.2% in Northern Ireland.

In England specifically, The East Midlands saw the largest increase, up to 5%, while the North and South East saw a 3.8% increase.

(Big Issue)