Collection

English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023: headline report

Initial findings from the English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023.

From:
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Published
14 December 2023

The latest finding from the English Housing Survey on people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of the English housing stock.

This headline report will be followed by a series of more detailed topic reports in the summer.

Key findings:

  • Owner occupation remained the largest tenure group in England (65% of households), with the social rented sector being the smallest (16%) and the private rented sector remaining a similar proportion (19%) since 2013-14.
  • In 2022, there were 1.1 million vacant dwellings, making up 5% of dwellings in England. This is a similar proportion to the last year of (pre COVID-19) data collection in 2019, also at 1.1 million and 5%.
  • Mortgagers found it more difficult to afford their mortgage this year compared to 2021-22, with 11% finding it difficult to afford in 2022. More than a quarter of private renters (29%) and social renters (27%) found it difficult to pay rent.
  • Most first time buyers funded the purchase of their first home with savings, while there was an increase in those reporting help from family or friends (from 27% in 2021-22 to 36% in 2022-23).
  • In 2022, 15% of dwellings failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard, while 8% of dwellings had a HHSRS Category 1 hazard, down from 9% in 2021.
  • In 2022, 4% of dwellings had a problem with damp, an increase from pre-pandemic levels (3%) with private rented dwellings rising from 7% to 9% between 2019 and 2022.
  • Over the last 10 years, the proportion of homes in the highest energy efficiency bands A to C increased (19% to 48%). Homes in the social rented sector saw the largest rise (36% to 70%).
  • While measures of well-being and loneliness are better compared to levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, levels are still lower than in 2019-20.
  • Owner occupiers had higher scores for life satisfaction, thinking life is worthwhile, happiness, and lower scores for anxiety, than other tenures.

Report chapters

Annex Tables

Figures

Updates to this page

Published 14 December 2023
Contents

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