Accredited official statistics
English housing survey 2008 to 2009: household report
First annual detailed report of findings relating to households from the English housing survey.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This is the first detailed report of findings relating to households from the English housing survey, and builds on results reported in the ‘English housing survey 2008 to 2009: headline report’ published in February 2010 (available on the National Archive).
The ‘English housing survey 2008: housing stock report’ was also published on 27 October 2010.
The report includes the following findings:
- the total number of households in England was 21.5 million in 2008 to 2009, up from 20.2 million in 1999; of these, 68% were owner occupiers, 18% were social renters, and 14% were private renters
- owner-occupation decreased from a peak of 70.9% of households in 2003 to 67.9% in 2008 to 2009; in contrast, the proportion of households renting privately rose from 10.8% to 14.2% over the same period
- 656,000 households (3.0%) were overcrowded, with about a third of these households living in London; overcrowding rates were higher in rented tenures than in owner-occupation: 6.7% of social renters and 5.4% of private renters compared to 1.6% of owner-occupiers
- under-occupancy was highest in the South West and East Midlands (both 40%)
- 61% of households in the private-rented sector worked full time compared with 24% of households in the social-rented sector; however, a much higher proportion of social renters than private renters were retired: 31% compared to 9%
- private renters tended to be younger than social renters: 60% of social renters were aged 45 or over compared with 29% of private renters
- the average weekly rent for households in the private-rented sector was £153, compared with £72 for social renters
- 1.9 million households had moved into their current accommodation in the 12-month period prior to 2008 to 2009, a reduction of 21% compared with the previous year
- of private-renter households, 36% had lived in their home for less than a year, compared with 4% of owner-occupiers and 8% of social renters; over half (54%) of owner-occupiers and 40% of social renters had not moved in the past 10 years; only 11% of private renters had lived in their home for over 10 years
- overall, 87% of households were very or fairly satisfied with their local area and 90% were satisfied with their accommodation, with older householders most likely to express satisfaction