Official Statistics

Release notes, 26 June 2014

Published 26 June 2014

Applies to England and Wales

Summary

At 31 March 2014 in England and Wales:

• There were 24.8 million homes (domestic properties) in England and Wales; of which over a quarter were terraced houses, a quarter were semi-detached houses and a fifth were flats/maisonettes.
• Bungalows and flats were most likely to have 2 bedrooms, while terraced and semi-detached homes were most likely to have 3 bedrooms. Over half of detached homes had 4 or more bedrooms.
• Older properties were most common amongst domestic properties, with almost a quarter of homes in Wales and a sixth of homes in England being built pre 1900. This pattern is similar across all regions with the exceptions of the West Midlands and the East, where properties built between 1955 and 1964 are most common.

About this release

This release provides a series of tables on the number of dwellings by Council Tax Band, property type (eg house, flat, bungalow, etc) and number of bedrooms, property build period (when it was built), and by various recognised statistical geographies, spanning England and Wales. It is an update of a previous release last published on 27 September 2012.

The counts are calculated from data for England and Wales and extracted from the Valuation Office Agency’s administrative database on 31 March 2014.

For all tables counts are rounded to the nearest 10 with counts fewer than 5 reported as negligible and denoted by ‘–‘. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Users wishing to find other relevant statistical indicators for a particular postcode should consult the Neighbourhood Statistics website

Entering a full postcode in the right hand search form, entitled ‘Neighbourhood Summary’, returns the relevant LSOA (shown as ‘neighbourhood’) and MSOA (shown as ‘area’).

Data quality

The information supplied in the tables is based on administrative data held within the Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) operational database. The VOA has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the data used.

There is a very small difference (0.002%) in the total number of dwellings recorded in this publication compared to that in the Council Tax Summary published on 24/04/2014. This is due to slight differences in the timing of data extraction.

The statistical geographies used in this release have been assigned to VOA records by linking individual postcodes held on the VOA’s database to those appearing in the February 2014 version of the National Statistics Postcode Look-up File (NSPL). The matching process resulted in around 9,000 out of 24.8 million records (or around 0.04%) where no match could be found in the NSPL, this equates to around 3,250 distinct postcodes out of 2.2 million (or around 0.15%). Counts for these records appear in the area “Unknown” row and may introduce a marginal geographical bias to the data.

In some cases the number of bedrooms for a property or the type of the property has not been recorded on the VOA system. Where no value for property type is recorded these records have been grouped under the “Unknown” column, and equate to 0.8% of the total number of properties. Where type can be assigned but the number of bedrooms is not recorded, records are grouped under the bedrooms ”Not Known” column for the relevant type and equate to 0.7% of the total number of properties.

Properties have been grouped into build period categories ranging from as early as pre-1900 to recent years (e.g. 2010 to 2014). However, there are no records of dwellings having been built between 1939 and 1945 due to the Second World War. In some cases the period when the property was built has not been recorded on our system. Where no value for build period is recorded these records have been grouped under the “Unknown” column, equating to 1% of the total number of properties.

Use made of the data

This publication is being released as part of a general drive towards making VOA’s data more accessible. The data are used to inform government policy and conduct operational analyses to support the Valuation Office Agency.

Glossary

Annexe - a building, or part of a building, which has been constructed or adapted for use as separate living accommodation

Area code - A unique identifier for administrative geographies as specified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Band - Council Tax band.

County – a geographical unit; Counties were formerly the upper tier of local government across the UK. Due to various local government restructurings, however, the only counties retaining an administrative function are the non-metropolitan (shire) counties of England (e.g. Cumbria), each of which covers a group of non-metropolitan districts. These statistics also include data on the former English metropolitan counties, although these are no longer administrative units. Counties have the value ‘LAU1’ for the geography (GEOG) variable in these data.

Dwelling – a dwelling is a separate unit of living accommodation, together with any garden, yard, garage or other outbuildings, attached to it, all occupied by the same person(s) and within the same area of land.

Output Area (OA) - the lowest level geographic unit which are aggregated, as super output areas, to form the collection and publication of small area statistics. OAs are very small areas with 150 households (300 people) on average.

Local Authority (LA) – a geographical unit; the lower tier of local government. This includes non-metropolitan districts, metropolitan districts, unitary authorities and London boroughs in England and unitary authorities in Wales. LAs have the value ‘LAU1’ for the geography (GEOG) variable in these data unless they form part of a County, in which case they have the value ‘LAU2’.

Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) – LSOAs are typically formed of four to six OAs and have an average population size of 1,500 residents (minimum 1,000). There are 34,753 Lower Layer SOAs (LSOAs) in England and Wales.

Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) – MSOAs are designed to be suitable for local requirements after consultation with local authorities and other local bodies. There are 7,201 Middle Layer SOAs (MSOAs) in England and Wales with an average population size of 7,200.

Region – a geographical unit formerly referred to as Government Office Region (GOR); since 1 April 2011 the term “region” has been substituted for “GOR”. The GOR framework is the primary classification for regional statistics and comprises nine regions of England, which combine with the devolved administrations collectively spanned the United Kingdom. This release comprises England regions plus Wales.

Property attribute - the characteristics of a property that are used to describe a property. In this release three property attributes were used. Two of these form the property category, which are property type (e.g. detached house, semi-detached, flat/maisonette, etc.) and number of bedrooms. The other attribute used is the period in which the property was built (e.g. between 1993 and 1999).

Other dwelling type - Includes mobile homes and caravans.

Unitary Authority (UA) – a geographical unit; a form of single-tier local authority, found in England and Wales. UAs have the value ‘LAU1’ for the geography (GEOG) variable in these data.

Background notes

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is a central government agency responsible, amongst other things, for banding homes for council tax purposes. It does not set the level of council tax nor collect the money, which is the task of local government.

The VOA has had responsibility for banding properties for council tax since the tax was first introduced in 1993, and before then the VOA was responsible for the earlier system of domestic rates. Council tax is a local tax, set by local councils, to help pay for local services. It uses the relative value of homes to determine each household’s contribution for these local services.

It is the duty of the VOA to act fairly and impartially, and to make sure that each home is correctly assessed and placed in the right band. This is so that there is the fairest possible basis on which local councils can send bills to taxpayers for the right amount of council tax – no more, no less. In carrying out this duty, the VOA operates to professional standards.

The VOA’s job is to place each home in one of eight valuation bands (nine bands in Wales) on the basis of its value at 1st April 1991 (1st April 2003 in Wales), which then determines the amount to be paid. The tables below show the breakdown of bands for England and Wales. New homes are assigned a band on the basis of what they would have been valued at in 1991 (2003 in Wales). The basis of valuation is set down in regulations made under the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Minor updates were made to the initial regulations in 1994 but they have not been changed since then.

In undertaking valuations the VOA needs to take account of the characteristics of a home and everything that goes to make up its value - positive or negative. In order to maintain accurate and fair lists of council tax bandings the VOA has always needed to keep the information it holds about property up to date. The VOA has digitised its existing paper-based records of property characteristics to make use of modern technology so that the organisation can continue to carry out its functions efficiently and effectively.

Bands

England
Band	Value of Dwelling (at 1st April 1991)
A	Up to £40,000
B	£40,001 up to £52,000
C	£52,001 up to £68,000
D	£68,001 up to £88,000
E	£88,001 up to £120,000
F	£120,001 up to £160,000
G	£160,001 up to £320,000
H	£320,001 and above

Wales
Band	Value of Dwelling (at 1st April 2003)
A	Up to £44,000
B	£44,001 up to £65,000
C	£65,001 up to £91,000
D	£91,001 up to £123,000
E	£123,001 up to £162,000
F	£162,001 up to £223,000
G	£223,001 up to £324,000
H	£324,001 up to £424,000
I	£424,001 and above

Further Information

The responsible statistician for this release is Sarah Sawyer who can be contacted via email at statistics@voa.gsi.gov.uk.

For further information on the area codes used in this release please refer to the ONS’s website at the following location: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/geographic-policy/best-practice-guidance/presentation-order-guidance/administrative-areas/index.html.

CSV Metadata

The following table provides the variable names and descriptions appearing on the CSV files included in this release.

Variable	Variable Description
CODE	Unique identifier for administrative geographies as specified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
NAME	Administrative area name
BAND	Council Tax Band
Bungalow1	Count of bungalows with one bedroom
Bungalow2	Count of bungalows with two bedrooms
Bungalow3	Count of bungalows with three bedrooms
Bungalow4	Count of bungalows with four or more bedrooms
BungalowZ	Count of bungalows where the number of bedrooms are unknown
Flat_Mais1	Count of Purpose built and converted flats/maisonettes with one bedroom
Flat_Mais2	Count of Purpose built and converted flats/maisonettes with two bedrooms
Flat_Mais3	Count of Purpose built and converted flats/maisonettes with three bedrooms
Flat_Mais4	Count of Purpose built and converted flats/maisonettes with four or more bedrooms
Flat_MaisZ	Count of Purpose built and converted flats/maisonettes where the number of bedrooms are unknown
House_Terraced1	Count of terraced houses with one bedroom
House_Terraced2	Count of terraced houses with two bedrooms
House_Terraced3	Count of terraced houses with three bedrooms
House_Terraced4	Count of terraced houses with four or more bedrooms
House_TerracedZ	Count of terraced houses where the number of bedrooms are unknown
House_Semi1	Count of semi-detached houses with one bedroom
House_Semi2	Count of semi-detached houses with two bedrooms
House_Semi3	Count of semi-detached houses with three bedrooms
House_Semi4	Count of semi-detached houses with four or more bedrooms
House_SemiZ	Count of semi-detached houses where the number of bedrooms are unknown
House_Detached1	Count of detached houses with one bedroom
House_Detached2	Count of detached houses with two bedrooms
House_Detached3	Count of detached houses with three bedrooms
House_Detached4	Count of detached houses with four or more bedrooms
House_DetachedZ	Count of detached houses where the number of bedrooms are unknown
Annexe	Count of annexes
OTHER	Count of other dwelling types (including mobile homes and caravans)
Pre_1900	Count of dwellings built before the year 1900
1900_1918	Count of dwellings built between 1900 and 1918
1919_1929	Count of dwellings built between 1919 and 1929
1930_1939	Count of dwellings built between 1930 and 1939
1945_1954	Count of dwellings built between 1945 and 1954
1955_1964	Count of dwellings built between 1955 and 1964
1965_1972	Count of dwellings built between 1965 and 1972
1973_1982	Count of dwellings built between 1973 and 1982
1983_1992	Count of dwellings built between 1983 and 1992
1993_1999	Count of dwellings built between 1993 and 1999
2000_2009	Count of dwellings built between 2000 and 2009
2010_2014	Count of dwellings built between 2010 and 2014
UNKNOWN	Count of dwellings where the property type or build period is unknown

The table below details the variables present in each CSV file (denoted by ‘X’).

Variable / Table	1.1	1.2	1.3	2.1	2.2	2.3	2.4	3.1	3.2	3.3	4.1	4.2	4.3	4.4
CODE	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
NAME	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
BAND	X	X	X					X	X	X
Bungalow1	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Bungalow2	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Bungalow3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Bungalow4	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
BungalowZ	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Flat_Mais1	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Flat_Mais2	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Flat_Mais3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Flat_Mais4	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Flat_MaisZ	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Terraced1	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Terraced2	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Terraced3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Terraced4	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_TerracedZ	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Semi1	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Semi2	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Semi3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Semi4	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_SemiZ	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Detached1	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Detached2	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Detached3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_Detached4	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
House_DetachedZ	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Annexe	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
OTHER	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Pre_1900								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1900_1918								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1919_1929								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1930_1939								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1945_1954								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1955_1964								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1965_1972								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1973_1982								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1983_1992								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1993_1999								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
2000_2009								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
2010_2014								X	X	X	X	X	X	X
UNKNOWN	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X