Housing is one of the government’s key priorities. For many people, the availability and affordability of housing has become increasingly difficult in recent years. The interactive visualisations below describes changes in the housing market in England for individual local areas. You can use them to explore the broad trends identified by our report Housing in England: overview and build a richer understanding of what they mean for different parts of the country.
How to use the visualisations
All the graphics are interactive:
Hovering over the maps and charts gives you more detailed information.
If you click on an area on the map, or the name of an area on the list, the data presented will be for that area only.
Clicking on a category in any of the charts will show only information the category applies to. For example, if you select Terraced homes in Figure 1.3 then the other charts will show information for terraced homes as well.
To go back to where you started you can either click:
The category or the area you used as a filter
Reset in the bottom left corner, or
Undo at the top of the screen.
Hold ‘Ctrl’ (Apple ⌘) to select multiple items and compare
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Visualisations:
There are substantial differences between different parts of the country in the prices paid for private homes. For example, prices of semi-detached homes in London and parts of the south east can be three times higher than in parts of Yorkshire and the Humber, the north east and north west. In recent years the gap has widened: in 2002 a semi-detached house in London cost 117% more than the median price for England; by 2015 this had risen to 153%.
Use the Year arrow to see how prices have changed across the country, or a region, over time. Click on one of the types of property to see where that type of property is most and least expensive.
The number of homes sold in England decreased by nearly half in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008. Housing market activity only started to recover after three or four years. In most parts of the country the number of homes on the market is still well below what was common a decade ago even though prices have recovered from the falls in 2008. The lack of properties for purchase can discourage existing home owners from putting their homes on the market and that in turn means there are fewer opportunities for people looking to buy their first home or to move elsewhere.
It is clear that the population of England has been increasing in recent years and this means that the number of households should also increase. In some parts of the country, for example in London and parts of the south east, the number of new homes is much lower than the number of new households, according to official projections.
It is hard to be precise about local demand for new housing. Every 10 years the Census provides detailed numbers about households and the last Census was in 2011. Official projections attempt to show what happens between each Census and how many households there will be in the future. The numbers of households from 2012 onwards are based on assumptions economic growth, migration, debt levels and/or welfare entitlements. The actual number of households, and hence housing requirements, will be lower or higher than projected if there are substantial differences between these assumptions and what actually happens.
Choose an area and see how the change in dwellings in the area compares with the change in the projected number of households. Each local area has its own distinctive housing conditions that will make it easier or harder for local people to find housing that is suitable for them.
Even if the number of additional dwellings matches the change in households there may be problems in an area. Typically around 2 per cent of homes are either vacant or used as second homes. As a result the number of homes needs to be higher than the number of households if there is to be a balance. Some families share homes with other families, and are therefore ‘concealed’ households. Other households live in homes that have fewer bedrooms than would be expected based on the people living there.
Over the last decade the mix of tenures in England has changed. Most people own their home but the proportion is now lower than its peak before the financial crisis. The proportion of people who rent their home from a private landlord has increased steadily while the proportion who rent from a local authority or housing association is slightly lower now compared with 2001.
Click on a tenure type in Figure 3.2 to see how the proportion of people living in that tenure has changed since 2001. Choose an area and see how the national and regional trends compare with what happened in that area.
Click on ‘Owned Outright’ or ‘Owned with a mortgage’ in Figure 3.2 to see what proportion of sales over the last two years were supported by the government’s Help to Buy schemes (Figure 3.3). In 2013 the government launched the Help to Buy equity loan scheme. Under the scheme buyers receive financial support worth up to 20% of the value of a new-build home, which is repayable once a home is sold or after the mortgage term, whichever is sooner. Over 2014 and 2015, this scheme, together with the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, supported thousands of home sales.
Click on’ Private rented’ or Social rented sector’ in Figure 3.2 to see how many households received Housing Benefit to pay their rent In March 2016 (Figure 3.3) and how rents have changed in relation to earnings (Figure 3.4). The proportion of households who claim Housing Benefit varies widely across the country. In part these differences reflect how many people rent their homes and the relationship between local earnings and local rents. In most parts of the country the rents paid by private tenants for typical properties have changed at a similar rate to changes in typical earnings. However in some parts of London and the south east private rents have increased much faster than earnings. Rents paid by social tenants tend to be lower than those paid by private tenants. In recent years average rents charged by social landlords have increased faster than typical earnings.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that accommodation is available for those with a priority need who have not become homeless intentionally. The number of homeless households ‘accepted’ as homeless increased from 44,000 in 2010-11 to 58,000 in 2015-16 but it is still well below the peak.
Use the Year arrow to see how level of homelessness varied across the country, or a region, over time. Choose an area to see how the numbers of households accepted as homeless and the number living in temporary accommodation have changed in that area.
At the end of March 2016, 71,500 households were in temporary accommodation and in 2015-16 local authorities spent £840 million on the cost of temporary accommodation for these households. London boroughs are responsible for 73% of the households in temporary accommodation in the country (52,000).
More information
Frequently asked questions
Where does this data come from?
The visualisation presents data for the 325 single tier and district council areas in England, using data from N collections. These are:
Office for National Statistics: HPSSA Dataset 9 Median price paid, HPSSA Dataset 6 and 7: Number of residential property sales, Housing summary measures, Census 2001, Census 2011, Full-time gross weekly earnings;
Department for Communities and Local Government: Table 122 Housing Supply; net additional dwellings, Table 401: Household projections, Council taxbase in England 2015, Help to Buy Equity Loans or Mortgage Guarantee, Average weekly local authority rent and private registered provider rent, Homelessness decisions acceptances and households in temporary accommodation, Spending on temporary accommodation;
Department for Work and pensions: Family Resources Survey, Housing Benefit claimants; and
This visualisation is designed to provide an overview of the housing market in England and to provide clear information about the housing landscape in different parts of the country and how these have changed in recent years. We have not assessed the merits of the government’s objectives or the value for money of any individual programme supporting these objectives.
Where can I find out more about housing in England?
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) publishes statistics relating to housing and homelessness, local government finance, planning performance and land use. You’ll find a list of DCLG statistical collections here.
Both DCLG and ONS regularly update their data. The visualisation contains links to source data and you can use these to navigate to the most up to date information.
How can I get an accessible version of this visualisation?
