The number of people who own their own homes has fallen by half a million in the past decade, while the number renting soared by 1.3 million, new figures revealed today.
Analysis of the 2021 census by the Office for National Statistics showed 15.5 million households owned their homes outright or with a mortgage. This was up from 15million in 2011.
But as a proportion of the population homeowners fell from 64.3 per cent to 62.5 per cent over the decade.
At the same time the number of households that were renting rose from 8million to 9.3million (34.3 per cent to 37.3 per cent).
An interactive map produced by the ONS shows that home-ownership was highest in the Home Counties and Midlands, with small enclaves in the North.
Social renting was highest in the major cites, while private rental of homes was highest in London.
Use the interactive map below to find out what the situation is where you live.
Dan Wilson Craw, dputy director of Generation Rent, said: ‘Despite an array of supposedly pro-home ownership policies over the past decade, the private rented sector was the fastest growing tenure.
‘A million more households are paying high rents to private landlords, face a much greater risk of living in a poor quality home than other tenures, and live with the threat of eviction at short notice without the chance to appeal.
‘In 2019, the government belatedly recognised the need for a much better deal for private tenants, including the abolition of unfair Section 21 evictions, but as we start 2023 we are still waiting for the legislation that will make this a reality.’
Within England, London had the lowest level of overall home ownership (46.8 per cent) of any region.
The capital also had the highest proportion of households that rented privately (30 per cent) or in the social rented sector (23.1 per cent), the ONS found.
Two English regions had higher rates of overall home ownership than Wales: the South East (67.1 per cent) and the South West (67 per cent).
However, Wales had a higher percentage of those who owned their home outright (38 per cent) than any English region.
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The largest increase for any type of accommodation was for households in a flat, maisonette or apartment.
In 2021, 21.7 per cent (5.4 million) of households were in one of these, up from 21 per cent (4.9 million) in 2011.
And the census revealed that more than 100,000 were living in caravans.
Some 3.2 million people in England and Wales reported staying at a second address for more then 30 days in 2021, according to Census data.
Those spending time at second properties, such as holiday homes, students’ home addresses, and partners’ addresses, equated to 5.3 per cent of the population, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The percentage of people using a second address has risen since 2011, when 2.9 million people, or 5.2 per cent of the population, did so.
Some 2.5 million usual residents in England and Wales have a second address within the UK and 736,000 have one outside it, according to the latest figures.
The most common types of second address were another parent or guardian’s address, which would have been selected for children whose parents lived apart (used by 1.1 million people), students’ home addresses (used by 655,000), and holiday homes (used by 447,000).
The ONS highlighted the potential impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the figures.
For example, students may have been more likely to be staying at their family home for the whole academic year, rather than using a term-time address.
In 2011, 715,000 people had students’ home addresses as a second address, and the decline likely reflects a pandemic effect, the ONS said.
The proportion of people using holiday homes has remained broadly stable since 2011, rising slightly from 426,000 to 447,000.
The number of people reporting using an armed forces base as a second address has more than halved, from 73,000 in 2011 to 33,000 in 2021.
There was also a decrease in the number of people who used another address when working away from home, from 253,000 in 2011 to 189,000 in 2021.
For the first time, the question also included an option for the use of a partner’s address.
In 2021, 294,000 people reported using this type of second address.
A slightly higher percentage of usual residents in England used a second address (5.4 per cent) than in Wales (5.2 per cent).
Within England, London (6.0 per cent) and the South West (5.9 per cent) had the highest percentages of usual residents who used a second address, while the West Midlands (4.5 per cent) had the lowest.
Within Wales, Cardiff (10.5 per cent) and Ceredigion (10.2 per cent) had the highest percentages of usual residents who used second addresses, while Blaenau Gwent (2.7 per cent) and Merthyr Tydfil (3.0 per cent) had the lowest percentages.
The local authorities with the highest percentage of people who used a second address were Oxford (15.6 per cent), Cambridge (14.1 per cent) and Exeter (13.5 per cent).
In Wales, the local authority with the highest proportion was Ceredigion (9.1 per cent).
These are all areas with universities, so the high percentage of people with second addresses likely reflects students with both a term-time address and a non-term-time address, the ONS said.
