Accredited official statistics

Social housing lettings in England, tenancies: April 2023 to March 2024

Published 5 December 2024

Applies to England

1. In this release:

• There were 261,000 new social housing lettings in 2023/24, an increase of 4% from the 252,000 lettings reported in 2022/23. Since 2021/22 the number of lettings has remained relatively stable following a period of steady decline from 2013/14.

• Of the new social housing lettings in 2023/24, 73% were General Needs (down from 75% in 2022/23) and 27% were Supported Housing (up from 25%).

• Social Rent comprised 79% of new social housing lettings in 2023/24, with Affordable Rent comprising 19% and Intermediate Rent comprising 2%.Compared to 2022/23 Social Rent lettings decreased by 2,000 while Affordable and Intermediate Rent lettings increased by 9,000 and 2,000 respectively.

• Private registered providers were the landlord for 72% of new social lettings, with local authorities providing the remaining 28% in 2023/24.

• Most new social lettings in 2023/24 were relets of existing social housing stock (86%). Of the remaining 14% the majority were properties that were newly built.

• The median number of days an existing social property was vacant before being relet as social housing was 29 days in 2023/24, down from 30 days in 2022/23.

• In 2023/24, the North East had the highest rate of churn in England - the proportion of existing social stock that was relet - at 6.7%.

• 78% of new social lettings in 2023/24 were lifetime tenancies, unchanged from 2022/23. Almost all new local authority lettings were lifetime (91%).

• The median weekly rent for new social housing lettings in 2023/24 was £103 compared to £93 in 2022/23. Regional differences saw average rents in London at £135 per week, compared to £91 in Yorkshire and the Humber.

2. Introduction

This series is about new social housing lettings in England in 2023/24 by local authorities and private registered providers. It covers new Social Rent, Affordable Rent and Intermediate Rent lets, for both General Needs and Supported Housing.

This “Tenancies” report focuses on information about the tenancies, rents, properties and stock ‘churn’ – how frequently social housing is relet.

The separate “Tenants” report focuses on the people living in these new social lettings – who they are, where they lived before, why they left their previous home, how long they were on a housing register for, their route into social housing and whether they got suitable properties. It is available from the same landing page.

The statistics presented here are based on data submitted by social housing providers via the CORE data collection, with appropriate methodology applied to take account of missing data. For more detail about quality and methodology see the “Technical notes” available from the same landing page.

What are social housing lettings?

Social housing lettings are when social housing properties - homes owned or used by social landlords - are rented by households at cheaper rents than in the private sector. Social landlords can be a local authority (often known as “council housing”) or a private registered provider (which includes housing associations). They must be registered with the Regulator of Social Housing. In most areas, social housing is allocated by the local authority. Each local authority runs a housing register (often referred to as a “waiting list”) as there are more people applying for social housing than properties available. In 2023/24, 16% of households in England lived in social housing^{[footnote 1]}.

New social housing lettings comprise a small part of the whole social rental sector as only 6% of the 4.3 million social properties were let during 2023/24.

3. New social housing lettings

3.1 Overall trends

In 2023/24, there were 261,000 new social housing lettings, a rise of 4% or 9,000 lettings from the previous year. Since 2021/22 the number of lettings has remained relatively stable following a period of steady decline from 2013/14, with a particular drop in 2020/21 due to Covid-19 restrictions in the social sector.

New social lettings increased in 2023/24 by 4% from the previous year

Figure 1: Number of new social lettings by type 2007/08 - 2023/24

3.2 Housing type and rent type

What types of social housing are there?

Social housing can be broken down in many ways, by the type of organisation providing the letting, support provided and the rent basis. The tenants in these different groups have different needs and characteristics.

Definition: Needs type  

Supported Housing (SH)	Housing with special design facilities or features targeted at a specific client group requiring support, for example housing designed for older people.
General Needs (GN)	The most common type of social stock. Housing that is not designated for specific client groups requiring support, or stock that does not have the special design features that are specific to Supported Housing.

Most new social housing lettings are not designed for a specific client group and are thus considered General Needs. These were by far the most common kind of social housing making up 73% of all new lettings in 2023/24, continuing the trend of the last 16 years.

General Needs lettings remain the most common type of letting, continuing the trend of the last 16 years

Figure 2: Percentages of new social lettings by needs types 2007/08 - 2023/24

Table 1: Comparison of new 2023/24 lettings to 2023/24 lettings by needs type

Needs type	2023/24 new lettings	2023/24 percentage of total	2022/23 new lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	Change in new lettings	Percentage change
General Needs	191,630	73%	188,371	75%	3,259	+2%
Supported Housing	69,446	27%	63,863	25%	5,583	+9%

Table 1 shows that Supported Housing is responsible for the majority of the increase in 2023/24 despite accounting for the minority of new social lettings.

Definition: Rent types

Social Rent (SR)	The most common type of rent. It is set in accordance with a national formula that takes account of relative local earnings, the property’s relative value and the number of bedrooms it has (for further details, please see Chapter 2 of the Government’s policy statement on rents for social housing)[footnote 2].
Affordable Rent (AR)	Where the rent to be paid by tenants can be no more than 80% of the market value for the property.
Intermediate Rent (IR)	Often part of a specific named scheme. Rent must not exceed 80% of the current market rate, the reduced rent is an opportunity for the tenant to save towards a house purchasing deposit. There may also be a future opportunity to purchase all or a share of the property currently being rented.

Social Rent comprised the vast majority (79%) of new social housing lettings in 2023/24. This was a decrease on the 83% in 2022/23.

Affordable Rent comprised 19% of all new social lettings in 2023/24, compared to 16% in 2022/23. The Affordable Rent programme began in 2011/12 for PRPs and in the following year for LAs. In 2012/13 it made up 7% of new lets and increased quickly to 13% in 2015/16. Since this increase the percentage of new lettings rented at Affordable Rent has slowly increased, and is now the highest it’s been both in terms of proportion and number of lettings.

In 2017/18 the Rent to Buy programme was introduced. In 2022/23 Intermediate Rent was added as a new category in CORE to make it clearer how to record these lettings. As Rent to Buy is one type of Intermediate Rent, it became a sub-group of the new category. Intermediate Rent as a whole comprised 2% of new lettings in 2023/24, or 4,700 lettings. Of the 4,700 new Intermediate Rent lettings in 2023/24, 1,100 were Rent to Buy, 400 were London living Rent and the remaining 3,300 were other types of Intermediate Rent.

Social Rent remains by far the most common rent type for new social lettings

Figure 3: Percentages of new social lettings by rent types 2007/08 - 2023/24

Table 2: Comparison of new 2023/24 lettings to 2022/23 lettings by rent types

Rent type	2023/24 lettings	2023/24 percentage of total	2022/23 lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	Change in lettings	Percentage change
Social Rent	207,229	79%	209,557	83%	-2,328	–1%
Affordable Rent	49,111	19%	40,229	16%	8,882	+22%
Intermediate Rent	4,736	1.8%	2,448	1%	2,288	+93%

Table 2 shows that despite Social Rent accounting for the majority of new social lettings, the number of Social Rent lettings actually fell by 2,300 in 2023/24 while Affordable Rent and Intermediate Rent made up the entirety of this year’s increase and increased by  8,900 and 2,300 lettings respectively.

3.3 Providers of social housing

Who owns and lets social housing?

There are two types of social housing providers: local authorities and private registered providers. This section describes the key differences between these types of organisations and the lettings they provide.

Definition: Social housing providers  

Local Authority (LA)	Commonly known as “council housing”. This is social housing provided directly by local government.
Private Registered Provider (PRP)	Commonly known as “housing associations”. These are providers of social housing who are private or charitable organisations and are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing.

PRPs accounted for 75% of organisations providing social housing in 2023/24, but only provided 72% of new lettings. On average each LA provided 465 new lettings in 2023/24, higher than the 409 average for PRPs. This suggests that the average PRP services fewer households than the average LA.

Compared to 2022/23 the number of Local Authority providers has decreased from 158 to 155 in 2023/24 while the average number of lettings has increased from 462 to 465. For Private Registered Providers the number of providers has increased since 2022/23 from 446 to 462 and the average number of lettings per provider has risen from 402 to 409.

Since 2010/11 the average number of lettings per local authority has been falling while for Private Registered Providers it has remained relatively steady

Figure 4: Average number of lettings per provider by provider type, 2010/11 - 2023/24

Table 3: Comparison of new 2023/24 lettings to 2022/23 lettings by provider types

Provider type	2023/24 lettings	2023/24 percentage of total	2022/23 lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	Change in lettings	Percentage change
Local Authority	72,128	28%	72,958	29%	-830	-1%
Private Registered Provider	188,948	72%	179,276	71%	9,672	5%

Table 3 shows that the entirety of this year’s increase was made up of new social lettings by Private Registered Providers.

Figure 5 shows that there were far more PRPs than LAs issuing new lettings in 2023/24. Most individual PRPs provided a smaller number of new lettings than most LAs but there are a few PRPs which provided a large amount of lettings.

Most individual PRPs provide a smaller number of new lettings than most LA in 2023/24

Figure 5: Distribution of new lettings by provider type and organisation, 2023/24

The 20 largest social housing providers (in terms of new lets) provided 28% of all new lets despite constituting just 3% of all organisations. Of these 20, only one was a local authority (Leeds City Council). The top three largest PRPs were Riverside Housing Group, Anchor Hanover and Sanctuary Housing Association. These three PRPs combined provided 6% of all new lettings in 2023/24 (15,000 new lettings).

The proportion of new social lettings provided by LAs had been gradually falling for the last 16 years

Figure 6: Percentage of new social lettings by provider type, 2007/08 - 2023/24

Since 2007/08 the share of new lettings provided by local authorities has been gradually falling to their current levels, from 40% to 28%.

Whilst new social lettings as a whole have fallen by 34% since the peak in 2013/14, LAs saw a decrease of 43% compared to a PRP decrease of 30%.

Compared to the previous financial year, the number of PRP-provided lettings increased by 5% and LA-provided lettings decreased by 1%.

The long-term trend of a declining LA share of new lettings can be partly attributed to LA stock shrinking by 6% since 2013/14. In contrast, PRP stock has grown by 11% during the same period. In total, over the last decade social housing stock has been increasing each year and now stands at 4.3 million units.

This suggests other factors are responsible for the decline of new social lettings since 2013/14, for example, the widening affordability gap between social and market rents.

Stock levels increase from building new social homes, rehabilitating existing social homes, buying or leasing homes from the private rental sector, and converting properties from other uses (e.g. commercial buildings). Stock levels decrease from selling off stock, for example through programmes like Right to Buy, and demolishing properties. Stock can also be sold or transferred between LAs and PRPs.

New PRP lettings have fallen despite PRP stock rising since 2013/14, whilst new LA lettings have fallen by more than LA stock has

Figure 7: Changes in lettings and stock by provider type as a percentage of 2013/14 values

Since 1980/81, LA social housing stock has fallen 67% from 4,798,000 in 1981 to 1,574,000 in 2024. This is in large part due to sales to tenants including under the Right to Buy, and Large Scale Voluntary Transfers (LSVTs) of stock from local authorities to housing associations. Since 1980/81 there have been at least 1,909,000 sales of LA social housing stock to tenants including under the Right to Buy^{[footnote 3]}, and 1,335,000 LSVTs from local authorities to housing associations.

Unlike sales to tenants, transfers of stock from local authorities to housing associations do not result in a loss to overall social housing stock. Overall social housing stood at 4.3 million units in 2024, down from 5.5 million units in 1981^{[footnote 4]}.

Since 1996/97 PRP-provided lettings increased steadily from 187,000 to 271,000 in 2013/14. Between 2013/14 and 2020/21 lettings fell, however since then they have remained relatively stable at their current levels.

Due to the way CORE was collected this same comparison cannot be made for LA lettings as it was only mandatory for local authorities to fill in CORE from 2007/08.

3.4 Location of new lettings

Most regions in England saw an increase in new social housing lettings in 2023/24 compared to the previous year. The percentage increase was the largest in London at 11%, with the only decrease in the South West at 5%. The decrease of 1,200 was likely due to Bristol City Council not submitting the vast majority of their lettings, which according to other data sources would have been 1,000^{[footnote 5]}.

Since the 2013/14 peak in new lettings all regions have seen a decrease but the scale of the fall has varied across the regions. Yorkshire and The Humber saw the biggest fall in new lettings with a 45% fall. The East of England saw the smallest fall, with a 18% decrease in new lettings since 2013/14.

As in 2022/23, the North West was the region with the most new lettings in 2023/24 (15% of total) while the North East has the fewest lettings (8% of total).

Since 2013/14 all regions have seen a decrease in lettings. This decrease has been largest in Yorkshire and The Humber.

Figure 8: New social lettings by region, 2007/08 - 2023/24

Table 4: Regional changes in new lettings 2022/23 - 2023/24

Region Name	2023/24 lettings	2023/24 percentage of total	2022/23 lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	Change in lettings	Percentage change
East Midlands	21,200	8.6%	20,300	8.5%	+900	+4.6%
East of England	28,600	11.6%	26,600	11.1%	+2,100	+7.8%
London	24,600	10.0%	22,200	9.3%	+2,400	+10.7%
North East	20,700	8.4%	20,600	8.6%	<100	+0.4%
North West	37,400	15.2%	37,400	15.7%	<100	<0.1%
South East	32,900	13.3%	30,600	12.9%	+2,200	+7.3%
South West	22,100	9.0%	23,300	9.8%	-1,200	-5.3%
West Midlands	29,900	12.1%	29,300	12.3%	+600	+2%
Yorkshire and The Humber	29,000	11.8%	28,100	11.8%	+900	+3.3%

The North West had the most new lettings of all English regions in 2023/24

Figure 9: New social lettings by region in 2023/24

4. Vacant properties

How many vacant social housing properties are there?

Of the 33,900 vacant LA-owned dwellings on 31 March 2024, 32,700 (97%) were owned by local authorities in their Housing Revenue Accounts (HRA). Of the HRA vacant dwellings, 38% were available for letting, while 41% were temporarily unavailable to let and 21% were permanently unavailable to let (if for example, they were due to be sold or demolished after 31 March 2024). The proportion of vacant local authority owned dwellings which are available to let was the lowest since 1986 (the first year this data was collected)^{[footnote 6]}.

Compared to the previous year the number of vacant LA-owned dwellings has increased by 1%, the number has been steadily growing since 2016/17 and is the highest it’s been since 2008/09.

Local authorities’ HRA vacant dwellings which were available to let had fewer bedrooms on average than those temporarily and permanently unavailable for letting

Figure 10: Vacant dwellings owned by local authorities’ Housing Revenue Accounts by type of availability and number of bedrooms, 31 March 2024

52% of vacant dwellings available for letting had 1 bedroom, whereas 48% and 42% of dwellings that were permanently and temporarily unavailable (respectively) had 1 bedroom.

There were 55,000 vacant PRP-owned dwellings as at 31 March 2024, of which 37,000 (68%) were General Needs and 18,000 (32%) were Supported Housing. Of the total vacant PRP-owned dwellings, 49% were available for letting, while 35% were temporarily unavailable to let and 16% were permanently unavailable to let.

This was a 3% increase on the previous year, continuing the steady increase seen in previous years^{[footnote 7]}. Vacant General Needs properties increased by 4% whereas Supported Housing increased by 2%.

How long are social housing properties vacant?

The median number of days an existing social property was vacant before being relet as social housing was 29 days in 2023/24, which is 1 day less than in 2022/23.

The average number of vacant days had been consistent at 21 days from 2015/16 to 2019/20, however during Covid-19 it rose to 28 and has remained relatively high since.

Median vacant days have fallen in 2023/24 but are still higher than pre- Covid-19 levels

Figure 11: Median vacant days of new social lettings, 2007/08-2023/24

Supported Housing properties were vacant for 21 days on average before being let, compared to 34 days for General Needs properties. This suggests a higher level of demand for Supported Housing or a lower level of supply. Supported Housing, by definition, requires special adaptations or provision of services to meet a tenant’s needs so Supported Housing and General Needs stock are not always interchangeable.

Local authority properties were vacant for longer before a new let on average than for PRPs in 2023/24

Figure 12: Median vacant days of new social lettings by letting type, 2023/24

Does the location of a property affect how long it is vacant for?

The median number of days an existing social property was vacant before being relet as social housing varied by needs type and region.

For General Needs lettings, London was the region with the highest number of vacant days at 56, compared to 23 days in the North West.

For Supported Housing lettings, London had the highest average number of vacant days at 31, compared to 14 days in the Yorkshire and The Humber.

Despite the median number of vacant days decreasing for both needs types across the regions in 2023/24 for London it has increased for the fourth year in a row.

Table 5: Median vacant days by region 2023/24

Region Name	General Needs	Supported Housing
East Midlands	35	17
East of England	35	23
London	56	31
North East	29	15
North West	23	15
South East	33	23
South West	26	17
West Midlands	35	24
Yorkshire and The Humber	37	14

Does the size of a property affect how long it is vacant for?

For new General Needs social lettings in 2023/24 there was no clear connection between the size of a property and how long it was vacant prior to the letting. One bedroom and four or more bedroom General Needs properties were vacant for 35 days while two bedroom and three bedroom properties were vacant for 32 days.

The number of bedrooms in properties being let as Supported Housing is not captured in CORE so a comparison is not available for Supported Housing.

Why were social housing properties vacant before being let?

14% of new lets in 2023/24 were in properties that were let for the first time as social housing. The majority of these were new builds (12%) with the remainder being made up of new leases (1%) and conversions, acquisitions and rehabilitations (1%). Almost all of the new build lettings were General Needs, whilst almost two thirds of the new leases were Supported Housing.

The remaining 86% were relets of existing social housing stock.

Over one in ten new lettings were of properties let for the first time as social housing from 2007/08 to 2023/24

Figure 13: Breakdown of new lettings by whether they were a first let or relet, 2007/08-2023/24

First let or relet differed considerably by rent type. Almost half (49%) of new lettings in Affordable Rent properties were first lets, compared to 28% of new Intermediate Rent lets, while only 6% of new Social Rent lets were first lets.

This years increase in first lets, from 13% to 14%, was likely due to the increase in Affordable Rent lettings.

The difference between rent types is likely due to the fact that Affordable and Intermediate Rents were only introduced within the last decade whereas Social Rent is much older. This means that the majority (86%)^{[footnote 8]} of existing stock held by LAs and PRPs is socially rented.

The most common reason for a property to be vacant before a relet of any rent type was the previous tenant moving to the private sector or other accommodation (55% of new Intermediate Rent lettings, 34% for Affordable Rent and 26% for Social Rent).

Eight times more new Affordable Rent lettings were first lets of the property than for Social Rent

Figure 14: Breakdown of vacancy reason by rent type, 2023/24

5. Tenancy types of new lettings

5.1 Tenancy type and length

There are three categories of social housing tenancy type: fixed term, lifetime and licence agreements. Each differ in length and level of security; some are more appropriate for particular types of tenants.

Definition: Tenancy types

Fixed term	Fixed term tenancies are tenancies of a set length, provided by both LAs (secure flexible) and PRPs (assured shorthold). For General Needs, the minimum length is five years (though may be shorter in exceptional circumstances) and the maximum length is 20 years.
Lifetime	These are tenancies given for the lifetime of the tenant and are provided by both LAs (secure) and PRPs (assured).
Licence agreement	These are provided by both LAs and PRPs and are not a formal tenancy. They have no set length or end date and are mainly used for Supported Housing.

How many new fixed and lifetime tenancies were there in 2023/24?

The majority (78%) of new social housing tenancies in 2023/24 were lifetime (203,000 tenancies) whilst 10% had a fixed end date (26,000 tenancies). General Needs tenancies of less than two years are not collected in CORE as these are deemed “temporary”, thereby reducing the proportion of tenancies of fixed length when compared to Supported Housing.

Lifetime tenancies were split into Assured lifetime tenancies (51% of all new lets, or 134,000 lets) which were mainly let by PRPs, and Secure lifetime tenancies (26% of all new lets, or 68,000 lets) which were mainly let by LAs. In addition to this a further 10% (26,000 lets) were licence agreements which have no fixed end date, almost all of which are used for Supported Housing to allow flexibility if tenants’ support needs change.  

Which provider types were most likely to give a lifetime tenancy?

Local authorities were more likely to provide their tenant with a lifetime tenancy than PRPs. Almost all (91%) new LA lets were lifetime tenancies, and just 5% were fixed term. This compares to 73% of new PRP lets being lifetime and 12% being fixed term.  

However, PRPs provided the highest number of lifetime tenancies as their share of the sector is overall much larger. PRPs provided 137,000 new lifetime social lettings; LAs provided 66,000. PRPs provided almost all (96%) of the 25,000 new licence agreements in 2023/24.

91% new social lettings by LAs were lifetime compared to 73% of new lettings by PRPs

Figure 15: Tenancy type by provider type, 2023/24

How has the use of lifetime and fixed term tenancies changed over time?

PRPs use of lifetime tenancies has remained unchanged compared to 2022/23, with lifetime tenancies accounting for 73% of new PRP lets in 2023/24.

Similarly, for LAs the proportion of lifetime tenancies has remained unchanged compared to 2022/23 at 91% in 2023/24.

The Localism Act 2011 enabled social housing providers to offer fixed term tenancies. However, the use of fixed term tenancies varies between PRPs and LAs:

• For PRPs the proportion of fixed term tenancies steadily increased to 25% in 2018/19, then dropped overall to 11% in 2022/23. In 2023/24 they have risen slightly to 12%.

• LAs saw a large increase in the proportion of fixed term lettings to 8% in 2014/15, then gradually fell to 7% in 2022/23, however they have now decreased further to 5% in 2023/24.  

Since 2012/13 lifetime tenancies have made up the majority of new social lettings for both LAs and PRPs

Figure 16: Percentage of new social lettings by tenancy type and provider type, 2012/13-2023/24

Are there differences between General Needs and Supported Housing?

Use of fixed term tenancies is different between the needs types - they accounted for 9% of new General Needs lettings in 2023/24, compared to 13% for Supported Housing.

Use of licence agreements varies considerably - there are almost zero (0.3% of lettings) for General Needs lettings, whereas they account for 37% of Supported Housing tenancies. This is because licence agreements are mainly used to provide short term help to those in crisis, for example rough sleepers or those fleeing domestic abuse, and Supported Housing is most commonly used for these households.  

The proportion of lifetime tenancies for both General Needs and Supported Housing has been increasing since 2018/19

Figure 17: Percentage of new social lettings by tenancy type and needs type, 2007/08-2023/24

How long are fixed term tenancies?

There were 4,500 Supported Housing tenancies (50% of the fixed term lettings) that had a length of less than two years. The only General Needs tenancies of less than two years that are collected in CORE are for Intermediate Rent tenancies where it is possible to have an initial 6 month period that then rolls forward. All Social and Affordable Rent General Needs tenancies of less than two years are deemed temporary and not collected in CORE.

When considering only fixed term tenancies of two years or more to ensure like-for-like comparison, Supported Housing tenancies were much more likely to be shorter. Only 24% of General Needs tenancies were 2-4 years compared to 59% for Supported Housing, whilst 64% of General Needs tenancies were for 5-9 years compared to just 22% for Supported Housing.

The majority of new fixed term lettings were for less than 2 years for Supported Housing and 5-9 years for General Needs

Figure 18: Percentage of fixed term new social lettings by tenancy length and needs type, 2023/24

The minimum length of a General Needs fixed term tenancy is set at 5 years, but under exceptional circumstances shorter tenancies may be provided^{[footnote 9]}. Supported Housing is more likely to have tenants with the exceptional circumstances to meet the condition, which could explain these differences.

How common are joint tenancies?

A joint tenancy is a tenancy agreement where two or more people are named on the tenancy agreement. In 2023/24 there were 254,000 new lettings where the joint tenancy status is known, 13% of which were joint tenancies. This is a slight increase on the 14% reported in 2022/23.

72% of couples living together in a letting had a joint tenancy whereas, only 1% of lettings not housing a couple had a joint tenancy.

General Needs lettings were over twice as likely to give joint tenancies than Supported Housing lettings, with 15% of General Needs being joint tenancies and only 6% for Supported Housing. This could be because 20% of General Needs lettings had a couple as tenants whereas Supported Housing only had 6% of lettings with a couple.

Among all the main reasons the households left their last settled home, the property being unsuitable because of overcrowding resulted in the largest percentage of joint tenancies (26%).

6. Size and features of new lettings

How many bedrooms are in newly let social properties?

38% of new General Needs lettings in 2023/24 were in properties that had one bedroom (this includes bedsits), 41% had two bedrooms, 19% had three bedrooms and 2% had four or more bedrooms.

For Supported Housing lettings the number of bedrooms is not collected so no equivalent comments can be made.

Using the 2021 Census data, new General Needs social housing lettings in 2023/24 were smaller than the average household space^{[footnote 10]}. Only 21% of newly let General Needs properties had 3 or more bedrooms, compared to 61% of all housing in England and Wales.

Table 5: Comparison of size of newly let General Needs social properties in England and average household space in England and Wales

Number of Bedrooms	2023/24 percentage of total new social lettings	Average for household spaces in England and Wales
1 Bedroom	38%	11%
2 Bedrooms	41%	27%
3 Bedrooms	19%	40%
4+ Bedrooms	2%	21%

The number of bedrooms in properties used in new lettings has remained fairly consistent in recent years

Figure 19: New General Needs social lettings by number of bedrooms, 2007/08 - 2023/24

Are newly let social housing properties accessible?

5% of new General Needs lettings in 2023/24 (11,000 new lets) were in properties built or adapted to wheelchair user standards (M4(3) of the 2010 building regulations^{[footnote 11]}).

The percentage of new General Needs lets in LA owned properties built or adapted to wheelchair user standards increased from 2% in 2007/08 to 6% in 2023/24. For Private Registered Providers it rose from 4% to 5% over the same period.

The percentage of new General Needs social lettings in properties that have been built or adapted to wheelchair standards has steadily increased since 2007/08

Figure 20: Percentage of new General Needs lettings built or adapted to wheelchair standards by provider type, 2007/08 - 2023/24

For Supported Housing lettings information is provided on whether a property has been designed or adapted to either the accessible general standard or wheelchair user standard combined (M4(2) and M4(3) of the 2010 building regulations^{[footnote 11]}). 58% of new Supported Housing lettings in 2023/24 (40,000 new lets) were in properties built or adapted to wheelchair user or the accessible general standards. This is the highest this proportion has been since 2008/09.

The proportion of new Supported Housing lettings built or adapted to wheelchair user or the accessible general standards varies by provider type. In 2023/24, 67% of local authority lettings were built or adapted to the standards compared to 56% for Private Registered Providers.

A higher proportion of Supported Housing properties meet wheelchair accessible standards, compared to General Needs. By definition, Supported Housing intended for tenants who need extra support, which includes those with mobility or other health issues that result in them needing wheelchair-accessible housing.

7. Rents of new lettings

How expensive is social housing?

The median rent for new social housing tenancies in England in 2023/24 was £103 per week, rising from £93 the previous year (an increase of 11%).  

Rents in London were 135 per week, nearly a quarter (24%) higher than the English average of £103 per week. Meanwhile the median rent in Yorkshire and the Humber of £91 per week was the lowest of the English regions and was 13% lower than for the whole of England.

Using the geometric mean^{[footnote 12]}, CORE weekly rent values can be compared to the ONS private rent figures^{[footnote 13]}. This gives an average weekly rent for new social housing tenancies in England in 2023/24 of £110 which is 40% of the market rent. This saving varies by region, with average rents in London being 33% of regional market rents compared to 65% in the north east.

There was substantial regional difference between average^{[footnote 12]} weekly rent for new social lettings and market rent in 2023/24

Figure 21: Median weekly rents by region and rent type (£), 2023/24

What effect does the rent type have on rent levels?

The amount of rent charged varies depending on rent type. Affordable Rents and Intermediate Rents by definition are set at up to 80% of market rent, whilst social rents are set via a national formula and are typically lower than Affordable Rents.

The average^{[footnote 12]} weekly Social Rent for a new let in England in 2023/24 was £102 per week, 37% of market rent^{[footnote 13]}. The year before, the average Social Rent was lower (£93 per week) and this was 36% of market rent. This shows that rents in the social sector increased slightly faster than in the private sector. The increase in Social Rent is directly linked to the increase in formula rent which went up by 7.7%.

In 2023/24 the average Affordable Rent was £143 per week, 52% of market rent, compared to £136 in 2022/23 (53% of market rent).

For Intermediate Rent it was £148 per week in 2023/24, 54% of market rent, compared to £186 per week in 2022/23 (72% of market rent). Care should be taken when comparing these averages as there are far fewer Intermediate Rent lettings then the other rent types which may cause large year on year fluctuations.  

Do rent levels vary by needs type?

The median weekly rent for new Social Rent Supported Housing lets was £100 in 2023/24 and £98 for new Social Rent General Needs lets. For new Affordable Rent lets, General Needs lets were more expensive with median weekly rents of £140 compared to £135 for Supported Housing. The pattern is similar for Intermediate Rent, where the median weekly rent for new General Needs lettings is £159 compared to £115 for new Supported Housing lettings.

As the number of bedrooms is not collected for Supported Housing it is not possible to compare rents of similar sized properties, however based on the number of people in the household it is likely that Supported Housing properties are smaller on average. For Supported Housing lets that have more specialised services to cater for the needs of the tenants living in the property the costs of these services may be passed on to tenants via higher rents.

What other charges do tenants face?

As well as basic rent a household may be expected to pay a range of other charges as part of their tenancy agreement, in CORE these are broken down as follows:

Definition: Additional charges

Service charge	Charges for additional services that are eligible for housing benefit or Universal Credit. Examples include cleaning and furniture usage.
Personal service charge	Charges not eligible for housing benefit or Universal Credit. Examples include heating and water usage.
Support charge	Charges for housing related support that enables a person to live independently. Examples include development of living skills and enabling access to education or employment.

In 2023/24 half (51%) of new General Needs lettings had a service charge, for these lettings the average weekly amount was £7. Over two thirds (72%) of new Supported Housing lettings had a service charge and in 2023/24 the average weekly amount was £60.

Personal service charges were present in 7% of new General Needs lettings and 48% of Supported Housing lettings in 2023/24. They averaged £8 and £17 respectively.

Additionally, support charges were present in 2% of new General Needs lettings and 35% of Supported Housing lettings in 2023/24. They averaged £7 and £6 respectively.

Considering all these charges together, 53% of new General Needs lettings had at least one of the previously mentioned charges. For these lettings, the combined charges averaged £7 a week. Comparatively, 82% of new Supported Housing lettings had at least one additional charge and for those lettings, the combined charges were £70 a week on average.

Considering all new 2023/24 lettings (including the 47% of General Needs and 18% of Supported Housing lettings with £0 of additional charges), new General Needs lettings in 2023/24 had £7.36 of additional weekly charges on average whilst Supported Housing had £70. Combining this with rent gives an average cost of £111 for new General Needs lettings in 2023/24 and £182 for Supported Housing.

How have rents changed over time?

Between 2007/08 and 2013/14 median weekly rent for new Social Rent lets increased steadily from £59 to £79. They have increased more slowly since then, reaching £98 per week in 2023/24.

The Affordable Rent programme was launched in 2012/13 and, with the exception of a brief fall in 2016/17, has seen a steady rise in rents from £105 per week in 2012/23 to £140 per week in 2023/24.

In 2017/18 Rent to Buy lettings were added to CORE as a separate category. Median weekly rent dropped from £112 in 2017/18 to £84 in the following year. The scale of this drop is likely due to the small numbers of lettings in 2018/19 which meant a small number of cheaper lettings had a large effect on the median. Following this drop weekly rents have increased to their current median values of £140. From 2022/23 Rent to Buy was expanded in CORE to include other intermediate rent products and is now referred to as Intermediate Rent.

Using median weekly rent values for private renters from the English Housing Survey^{[footnote 14]} over the period that each rent type has comparable data we see that:

• New Social Rent lettings median weekly rent increased by 56% whereas rent increased by 51% for private renters (2008/09 to 2023/24)

• New Affordable Rent lettings median weekly rent increased by 33% whereas rent increased by 42% for private renters (2012/13 to 2023/24)

• New Intermediate Rent lettings median weekly rent increased by 25% whereas rent increased by 23% for private renters (2017/18 to 2023/24)

Rents for new social lettings have been steadily increasing in 2023/24

Figure 22: Median weekly rents (£) by rent type, 2007/08 - 2023/24

Are tenants in new social lettings paying lower rents than those already living in social housing?

Using the median weekly rents from the English Housing Survey it is possible to compare rents for new lettings and existing lettings. However it should be noted that it is not a like-for-like comparison because the properties being newly let are not the same as those with existing lettings. For example, there is a greater “churn” of lettings in the North of England than in the South (see chapter 8) and therefore the rents of new lettings will be skewed to the North where they are generally cheaper.

For social lettings provided by local authorities in 2023/24, median weekly rents for new lettings were 7% lower than those paid by existing households in social housing provided by local authorities^{[footnote 14]} (£93 compared to £100).  

Similarly, median rents for new PRP lets in 2023/24 were 4% lower than for existing households in PRP lettings^{[footnote 14]} (£108 compared to £113).

Median weekly rents for new LA-provided lets have remained lower than rents for all LA-provided lets each year since 2008/09. Rents for new lettings and those already in social housing have increased at roughly the same rate. The same is true for PRP-provided lets.

Despite steady increases in weekly rents, new social lettings continue to have lower median weekly rents than existing social lettings

Figure 23: Median weekly rents by provider type and whether the letting is new or existing (£), 2008/09 - 2023/24

Weekly rents for both new social lettings and the social sector as a whole increased from 2008/09 to 2015/16. Between 2015/16 and 2019/20 average rents for new lets flattened, whereas for the sector as a whole, rents slightly fell (2% for PRPs and 3% for LAs). Since 2019/20 median rents for both new lets and the sector as a whole have been increasing overall.  

Table 7: Weekly rent comparison between new lets and existing lets 2008/09 and 2023/24

Provider type	New or existing letting?	2008/09 median weekly rent	2023/24 median weekly rent	Percentage change
Local Authority (LA)	New letting	£57	£93	63%
Local Authority (LA)	Existing letting	£64	£100	56%
Private Registered Provider (PRP)	New letting	£67	£108	61%
Private Registered Provider (PRP)	Existing letting	£72	£113	57%

Number of bedrooms and weekly rent

The number of bedrooms in a property has an impact on the median weekly rent. This is illustrated by the chart below, where General Needs properties with one bedroom are by far the cheapest and those with four bedrooms are the most expensive, for both Social Rent and Affordable Rent. Four-bedroom properties were 54% more expensive than one-bedroom properties for Social Rent, 74% more expensive for Affordable Rent and 6% more expensive for Intermediate Rent.

For new Social and Affordable rent social lettings the more bedrooms a property has the higher the weekly rent on average

Figure 24: Median weekly rents (£) for new social lettings by number of bedrooms, 2023/24

Intermediate Rent rents are not included in figure 24 due to the small numbers of lettings within each bedroom category.

Data on the number of bedrooms of Supported Housing properties is not collected so a similar comparison cannot be made for these lettings.

8. Is there a link between new lettings and stock?

The number of new lettings varies across the country and is linked to the availability of stock available to let. This stock includes existing social stock that has become vacant, plus properties available for their first social let this year such as new builds, acquisitions, and rehabilitations.  

Figure 25 shows total lettings as a percentage of total stock by region. This illustrates that generally a higher proportion of stock was newly let (churn of stock) in northern England than in the south. For example 6.7% of social stock in the North East was relet during 2023/24, compared to 2.5% for London.

Tenants in Local Authority and Private Registered Provider lettings had lived at their current address for an average of 13.5 years and 11.1 years, respectively in 2023/24. This is considerably longer than the average of 4.6 years in the private rental sector^{[footnote 15]}.

Social housing churn is higher in the north of England than the south

Figure 25: Social housing stock churn by region, 2023/24

Is there a difference between provider types?

Looking at the stock owned by providers, 4.2% of local authority stock was relet during 2023/24 whereas for private registered providers it was 5.7%.

Again, this varies by region with Yorkshire and The Humber having the highest churn of its local authority stock with 4.9%, while London had the lowest with 2.2%.

Meanwhile for private registered providers, the North East had the highest churn of stock and, London had the lowest. The full breakdown by region can be found in the table below:

Table 8: Proportion of stock relet by provider type and region - 2023/24

Region Code	Region Name	Proportion of LA stock relet (%)	Proportion of PRP stock relet (%)
E12000001	North East	3.5	8.3
E12000002	North West	4.8	5.6
E12000003	Yorkshire and The Humber	4.9	6.9
E12000004	East Midlands	3.8	7.3
E12000005	West Midlands	3.7	6.4
E12000006	East of England	4.5	5.5
E12000007	London	2.2	3.1
E12000008	South East	3.4	5.5
E12000009	South West	2.7	6.0

Why is there a difference in social stock churn across the country?

One possible explanation for this higher turnover in the North and Midlands is affordability, as seen in figure 26 below. We can see a widening affordability gap between the social and private rental sectors, especially in London and the South East, which may discourage existing social tenants from moving into private accommodation, which would reduce turnover in these areas.  

For example, the average^{[footnote 12]} weekly private sector rent in London was £431 per week in 2023/24^{[footnote 13]}, while in the North East it was £145 (England average was £274). The proportion of social housing stock relet in London during the year was 2.5%, compared to 6.7% in the North East.

Local authorities with a higher rate of stock churn have social rents closer to market rents

Figure 26: Average rent for new social lets as a proportion of market rent by local authority area, 2023/24

9. Summary tables and technical notes

Tables providing summary statistics accompanying this release are available.

An interactive subnational data explorer is available from the same landing page as this release.

The Technical notes gives more information on data collection and quality, definitions, statistical processes and related statistics.

10. Enquiries

Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 [email protected]

Public enquiries and responsible statistician: Rachel Worledge

Email: [email protected]

11. Footnotes

1. English Housing Survey 2023 to 2024, Annex tables for English Housing Survey 2023 to 2024 headline findings on demographics and household resilience, Chapter 1: Profile of households and dwellings annex tables, AT1_1. ↩

2. Policy statement on rents for social housing.   ↩

3. Figure combines all sales to tenants between 1980/81 and 2022/23 from MHCLG Live Table 678 and sales of stock eligible for the pooling of capital receipts (a large subset of total annual Right to Buy sales) in 2023/24 from MHCLG Live Table 691a. ↩

4. MHCLG Live Table 104.   ↩

5. Local authority housing statistics (LAHS) expected lettings have been calculated by summing d4a and d8a of the LAHS open data.   ↩

6. LAHS live table 612.   ↩

7. Private registered provider social housing stock and rents in England, 2023 to 2024 .   ↩

8. Registered provider social housing stock and rents in England 2023 to 2024,Registered providers additional tables, Table 1.1 .  ↩

9. Regulator for Social Housing, Tenancy Standard.   ↩

10. ONS 2021 Census data on numbers of bedrooms in household spaces for England and Wales .   ↩

11. Access to and use of buildings: Approved Document M. ↩ ↩²

12. The geometric mean of n numbers is defined as the nth root of the product of those numbers. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

13. Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics, 20 November 2024 edition, Rental prices taken from the start of the financial year and made weekly.   ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. English Housing Survey 2023 to 20243, Annex tables for English Housing Survey 2023 to 2024 headline findings on demographics and household resilience, Chapter 2: Housing costs and affordability annex tables, AT2_4.   ↩ ↩² ↩³

15. English Housing Survey 2023 to 20243, Annex tables for English Housing Survey 2023 to 2024 headline findings on demographics and household resilience, Chapter 3: Housing history and future housing annex tables, AT3_6. ↩