English Housing Survey

You can read the latest reports for 2022-23 and reports going back to 2009 on the GOV.UK website. The English Housing Survey (EHS) is commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

About the study

The English Housing Survey (EHS) is a national survey of people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. It is one of the longest standing government surveys and was first run in 1967. The 2022-23 reports explores topics such as housing costs and affordability, buying aspirations, overcrowding and under-occupation, energy efficiency, safety and decency of housing in the rented sectors, complaints and satisfaction with current housing and future homeowners.

Key findings from the latest reports

Rented sector report

• The rented sectors make up 35% of households in England, with 4.6 million households in the private rented sector (19% of all households) and 4 million households in the social rented sector (16%).
• The majority of renters say they find it easy to pay their rent, and are not in rental arrears, but households in the social rented sector are more likely to be in arrears than households in the private rented sector.
• Most renters ended their last tenancy because they wanted to move, although a minority were evicted or asked to leave by their landlord. A greater proportion of social renters were asked to leave than private renters.
• The majority of households in the private rented sector have not experienced a tenancy refusal in the private rented sector, but nearly one in ten privately renting households receiving benefits have been refused a tenancy in the past twelve months because they were in receipt of benefits.
• Social renters, and renters living in high rise flats, are more likely to feel unsafe in their homes due to fear of fire.

Housing costs and affordability

• Nearly three quarters of private renters in the lowest two income quintiles spent more than 30% of income on rent.
• Certain groups – households with a low income, those without savings and those in receipt of housing support – were more likely to spend a higher average proportion of income on housing costs.
• Households with dependent children were more likely to report difficulty paying rent and renters with dependent children were more likely to be in arrears.
• Renters and owners without savings were more likely to have fallen behind on electricity and gas bills compared to renters and owners with a savings safety-net.
• The majority of homeowners said they thought the value of their home increased over the last 12 months, but were less optimistic about the coming year.
• Most mortgagors had a fixed variable rate to their mortgage, with recent mortgages more likely to have a fixed variable rate compared to other interest rates.

Future homeowners

• Private renters were more likely to expect to buy than social renters.
• Renters in work were more likely to expect to buy than those who were not in work, but employed private renters were more likely to expect to buy than employed social renters.
• Renting households in London were more likely to expect to buy a home than households elsewhere in England.
• Over a quarter of renters expected to have help from family and/or friends toward their deposit.
• The most common reason among all renters for not expecting to buy was perceived affordability.

Methodology

The EHS is a large-scale complex survey with two stages: an interview in all selected homes and a visual inspection by a qualified surveyor of a subsample of homes. The EHS is conducted throughout the year across England. The sample is scientifically chosen to represent the wider English population. The EHS is currently carried out by a consortium of the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), Building Research Establishment (BRE) and CA Design Services (CADS).