Housing in the United Kingdom

About 30% of homes in the United Kingdom are owned outright by the people who live in them. About 40% are owned by people with a mortgage. About 18% are social housing of some kind. About 12% are privately rented from private landlords.

England

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There were about 24.9 million dwellings in England in 2021

  • 9 million were owner-occupied, an increase of 135,000 since the previous year
  • 9 million were privately rented, a rise of 64,000
  • 1 million were social and affordable rented, an increase of 18,000.[1]

In July 2023 Rishi Sunak announced plans to build homes in city centres and reduce planning restrictions so that a million homes would be built before the next General Election.[2]

Scotland

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In 2020 there were about 2.6 million dwellings in Scotland. About 58% were owner-occupied. 4% were empty or second homes. 15% were private rented or rent free. 23% were social rented.[3]

Wales

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In 2021:

  • 38.0% of households (512,000) owned the accommodation they lived in outright, an increase from 35.4% in 2011
  • 28.3% (382,000) of households owned their accommodation with a mortgage or loan or shared ownership, which is less than in 2011 when it was 32.3%.
  • 17.0% (229,000) of households rented their accommodation privately, up from 14.2% in 2011
  • 16.5% (222,000) of households were in the social rented sector. This is slightly higher than in 2011 (16.4%)[4]

There has long been resentment of second home owners in Wales, and this is partly because of the effect on prices and partly about protecting the Welsh language. About two hundred holiday homes were burned down in the 1980s and 90s. The Welsh government has altered the planning, property and taxation rules to discourage second homes. [5]

Northern Ireland

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There were 822,083 homes in 2022. 45% were owned outright, and 28% with a mortgage. 13% of properties were privately rented and 4% were rented from housing associations. 9% were rented from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.[6]

Owner occupation

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In 2023, the average price for a home was about £286,500. This was one of the highest prices in Europe. [7] In 1983 it took an average couple three years to save for a deposit. In 2023 it took nine, or 15 in London. 54% got money from their parents. People whose parents did not own their home were much less likely to be able to buy. [8]

Private rented

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The number of households in the private rented sector in the UK went up from 2.8 million in 2007 to 4.5 million in 2017. Most of these are people under 40. In 2023 241,000 homes were available for renting, 35% less than in June 2019. Rents went up by 23% in the same time. [9] About 40% of renters had difficulty paying their rent in 2023. On average, renters spent 21% of their disposable income on rent.[10] Most of the landlords have buy-to-let mortgages. Rising interest rates cause them problems. About 100,000 buy-to-let properties were sold in 2022.[11]

Social housing

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See Council house

References

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  1. ↑ "Housing in England: Issues, statistics and commentary". House of Lords Library. November 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  2. ↑ Gross, Anna (2023-07-23). "Sunak tilts housing drive to inner cities to meet 1mn new homes pledge". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  3. ↑ "Annual Housing Statistics, 2020-21". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  4. ↑ "Housing in Wales (Census 2021)". GOV.WALES. 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  5. ↑ Bennett-Jones, Owen (2023-07-27). "Anti-Anglicisation". London Review of Books. Vol. 45, no. 15. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  6. ↑ Doran, Jim (15 December 2022). "Northern Ireland Housing Statistics 2021-22" (PDF). www.communities-ni.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  7. ↑ "Average house price in the UK 2007-2023". Statista. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  8. ↑ Burn-Murdoch, John (14 July 2023). "Home ownership in Britain has become a hereditary privilege". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  9. ↑ "UK homes for rent slump to 14-year low". Financial Times. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  10. ↑ "UK renters five times more likely to struggle financially than homeowners". Financial Times. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  11. ↑ Guthrie, Jonathan (2023-07-24). "Generation Rent is at the sharp end of rate rises". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-24.