The English Housing Survey: key findings

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/jul/24/the-english-housing-survey-key-findings

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Every year the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) publish headline figures from the latest English household Survey. Those figures showed that home ownership in England had fallen to lowest level in 25 years.

That release in February is followed by an annual household trends report which provides lots of statistics that help paint a picture of English housing in 2012/13.

According to the English Housing survey, in 2012-13 there were a total of 22m households, of which 65% were owner occupiers, 18% were private renters and 17% were social renters.

The report states that since 2006-07, the overall number of owner occupiers (mortgagors and outright owners) has decreased slightly each year, reaching its lowest level since the 1980s in 2012-13.

As owner occupation has decreased, privately rented households have been on the rise. The report explains:

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the proportion of private sector households stayed steady at around 10% of the market. However, the sector has undergone sharp growth since the early 2000s and nearly doubled in size by 2012-13

The private rented sector accounted for 4m households in 2012-13, exceeding the social rented sector at 3.7m households.

There has been a decline in the proportion of younger mortgagors

As Hilary Osbornes writes, "the report showed that in the wake of the financial crisis, when credit became more costly and lenders began asking for larger deposits from homebuyers, the proportion of young homeowners dropped".

In 2012-13, 18% of households buying with a mortgage were aged below 35 compared with 21% in 2008-09.

£163 per week - the average rent paid by private renters

The housing survey found that between 2008-09 and 2012-13, average weekly rents increased in the private rented sector by 7% from £153 to £163.

The average (mean) rent paid by private renters in England (excluding services but including housing benefit) was £163 per week in 2012-13.

£149 per week - the average mortgage payment

In 2012-13, the average (mean) mortgage payment was £149 per week. But payments differed by the type of mortgage; those with interest only mortgages were paying an average of £120 per week compared with £154 for those with repayment mortgages. In 2012-13, of the 14.3m households that were owner occupiers, there were 7.2 million mortgagors.

Renters tend to spend proportionally more of their income, on average, on housing costs than mortgagors

The survey found that on average, private renters spent 40% and social renters 30% of their income on rent while owner occupiers buying with a mortgage spent 20% of their income on their mortgage. Both private renters and social renters tended to earn less.

The largest number of recent moves was within the private rented sector

In 2012-13, 2.3m households (10% of all households) had moved home in the previous 12 months. Those who were renting privately were the most likely to have moved within the past year - one third (34%) of households in the private rented sector had moved within the past year compared with 10% of social renters and 4% of owner occupiers.

The most popular reason for having a second home? For holiday

45% - the percentage of private renters aged 25-34

In 2008-09, a third of all households in the 25-34 age band rented privately, by 2012-13 this had increased to 45% of households in this age band. The chart above shows how the proportion of households in the 25-34 age band renting privately has increased over the years.

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• SOURCE: The English Housing Survey (DCLG)

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