Households under-occupying their home

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 2 March 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• around 8 million (37%) of the estimated 22.6 million households in England were under-occupying their home in the time period studied

• Mixed White and Asian, White Irish and White British households were most likely to be under-occupying their home

• Black African, Mixed White and Black African, Arab, Bangladeshi, Mixed White & Black Caribbean, Other Asian, Chinese, Pakistani and Other White households were least likely to be under-occupying their home

• across all socio-economic groups and regions in England, and regardless of whether they owned or rented their home, White British households were more likely than ethnic minority households to be under-occupying their home

Things you need to know

Compared with White British households, ethnic minority households tend to:

• be younger
• have lived in England for a shorter time
• be located in urban areas
• live in larger households
• live in rented accommodation

To ensure that there is a large enough number of ethnic minority households to produce reliable findings, the data is drawn from the English Housing Survey (EHS) 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Information about households available from the EHS Headline and Annual Reports is normally based on a 12-month period (April to March) of the survey. Because of this some of the statistics cited here may not match those in the Headline and Annual Reports.

The commentary only includes findings based on subgroups of at least 30 households to ensure that we report reliable findings. For this reason, information is not provided about Gypsy or Irish Traveller households.

The EHS is a ‘sample survey’: it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings’) about the total population.

For example, EHS findings might include the percentage of households who get help from their family to buy their own home.

The commentary for this data only includes reliable, or ‘statistically significant’, findings.

Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.

What the data measures

This data measures households under-occupying their home and how different ethnic groups are affected.

Under-occupation is measured using the bedroom standard. This is the difference between the number of bedrooms needed to avoid undesirable sharing (based on the age, sex and relationship of household members) and the number of bedrooms actually available to the household.

For example, each married or cohabiting couple would be allowed a bedroom, as would an individual aged 21 or over and each pair of adolescents or children of the same sex. The bedroom standard is described in detail in the English Housing Survey Headline Report 2015-16 (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).

A household is counted as under-occupied if it has at least 2 bedrooms more than it needs according to the bedroom standard.

The figures are drawn from the 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 English Housing Survey (EHS). The survey involves face-to-face interviews with about 13,300 randomly selected households every year.

These are used to make estimates for the 22.6 million households in England as a whole.

The EHS is a national survey of people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of homes in England.

The information relates to households. A household is one person or a group of people (not necessarily related) who have the accommodation as their only or main residence. If they are a group they also must share cooking facilities and a living room, sitting room, or dining area.

The EHS has ethnicity information on the household reference person as well as all other members of the household. The household reference person is the person in whose name the dwelling is owned or rented or who is otherwise responsible for the accommodation.

Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds; in these circumstances, we have used the ethnic background of the household reference person to define the ethnic background of the household.

Nearly all the household reference persons – more than 99.8% interviewed – provided information on their ethnicity.

The data is shown for the 9 regions of England: North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East, London, South East and the South West.

The ethnic categories used in this data

For comparisons made at national level, this data uses the standardised ethnic groups based on the 2011 Census.

White:

• English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British
• Irish
• Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller
• Any other White background

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

• White and Black Caribbean
• White and Black African
• White and Asian
• Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background

Asian/Asian British:

• Indian
• Pakistani
• Bangladeshi
• Chinese
• Any other Asian background

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• African
• Caribbean
• Any other Black/African/Caribbean background

Other ethnic group:

• Arab
• Any other ethnic group

For data analysed both by ethnicity and by income, socio-economic group and area, the following 2 ethnic categories have been used:

• White British
• Other – all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities and all other ethnic minorities)

This is because the number of people surveyed to generate estimates for the population as a whole becomes too small to be reliable when also broken down by ethnicity and by another factor.

Data is therefore grouped to a size where estimates become reliable. In this case, information which is broken down by ethnicity and another factor compares White British with Other.

2. Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households under-occupying their home by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Under-occupying households	All households
Asian
Bangladeshi	13	14,046	108,241
Chinese	17	22,654	132,162
Indian	29	140,390	486,845
Pakistani	18	59,415	327,347
Asian other	16	34,988	213,555
Black
Black African	11	40,049	360,219
Black Caribbean	22	63,030	285,256
Black other	27	9,175	33,438
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	42	26,641	64,126
Mixed White/Black African	12	9,084	75,210
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	15	15,083	98,107
Mixed other	21	9,246	43,212
White
White British	40	7,506,473	18,827,771
White Irish	41	82,525	202,418
White Gypsy/Traveller
White other	18	193,299	1,052,401
Other
Arab	12	7,603	64,164
Any other	21	48,308	233,069

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Households under-occupying their home Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• 8 million (37%) of the households in England were under-occupying their home in the time period studied

• Mixed White and Asian, White Irish, and White British households were most likely to be under-occupying their home at 42%, 41% and 40% of households respectively

• ethnic groups least likely to be under-occupying their home were Black African (at 11% of households), Mixed White and Black African, and Arab (both at 12%), and Bangladeshi (at 13%)

3. Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and socio-economic group

• Location: England
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and socio-economic group

	White British			All other ethnic groups
Socio-economic group	White British %	White British Under-occupying households	White British All households	All other ethnic groups %	All other ethnic groups Under-occupying households	All other ethnic groups All households
Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations	49	3,724,097	7,583,359	28	390,377	1,376,604
Intermediate occupations	40	1,561,244	3,908,430	18	133,695	734,328
Routine and manual occupations	29	1,832,193	6,274,838	14	176,488	1,283,093

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Households under-occupying their home Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary

The data shows that:

• across all socio-economic groups, White British households were more likely to be under-occupying their home than ethnic minority households

4. Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and income

• Location: England
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and weekly income

	White British			All other ethnic groups
Weekly income	White British %	White British Under-occupying households	White British All households	All other ethnic groups %	All other ethnic groups Under-occupying households	All other ethnic groups All households
Up to £99	12	26,637	219,652	10	6,057	63,678
£100 to £199	27	446,301	1,658,642	19	61,740	333,662
£200 to £299	34	792,798	2,330,425	21	84,410	401,075
£300 to £399	38	814,150	2,167,669	17	79,896	474,903
£400 to £499	37	662,469	1,769,992	16	69,911	426,782
£500 to £599	38	628,328	1,640,197	13	44,352	332,926
£600 to £699	40	613,156	1,540,292	19	55,519	296,515
£700 to £799	41	525,389	1,283,624	22	56,320	261,015
£800 to £899	42	454,357	1,076,614	19	39,636	210,022
£900 to £999	43	365,716	854,316	21	36,527	170,613
£1000 and above	51	2,176,286	4,284,737	30	242,799	814,503

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Households under-occupying their home Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and income Summary

The data shows that:

• in all income bands except the lowest, White British households were more likely to be under-occupying their home than ethnic minority households

• although the survey estimates show differences in the rates of under-occupying for those earning less than £99 a week, the number of households surveyed was too small to draw firm conclusions

5. Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage of households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and area

	White British			All other ethnic groups
Region	White British %	White British Under-occupying households	White British All households	All other ethnic groups %	All other ethnic groups Under-occupying households	All other ethnic groups All households
North East	36	386,464	1,083,531	22	12,552	57,729
North West	38	1,046,505	2,732,893	24	78,247	321,434
Yorkshire and The Humber	39	784,867	2,014,231	20	44,906	230,373
East Midlands	41	700,232	1,710,066	23	51,740	227,931
West Midlands	42	839,358	1,982,713	25	85,621	339,739
East of England	42	918,946	2,169,371	27	86,927	321,024
London	33	570,629	1,723,591	16	267,655	1,643,031
South East	41	1,304,316	3,193,654	24	115,898	486,885
South West	43	955,156	2,217,722	21	33,623	157,547

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Households under-occupying their home Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that:

• in every region of England, White British households were more likely to be under-occupying their home than ethnic minority households

6. Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and age group

• Location: England
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage of households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and age group

	White British			All other ethnic groups
Age group	White British %	White British Under-occupying households	White British All households	All other ethnic groups %	All other ethnic groups Under-occupying households	All other ethnic groups All households
16 - 24 yrs old	13	73,236	573,254	9	18,703	202,590
25 - 34 yrs old	19	452,056	2,396,932	10	91,403	901,571
35 - 44 yrs old	25	748,349	2,941,139	15	154,343	1,044,794
45 - 54 yrs old	35	1,321,586	3,766,221	21	160,913	761,583
55 - 64 yrs old	52	1,685,733	3,249,826	32	133,835	413,099
65 yrs old or over	55	3,225,512	5,900,399	47	217,971	462,057

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Households under-occupying their home Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and age group Summary

The data shows that:

• across all age groups except 16 to 24 years old, White British households were more likely to be under-occupying their home than ethnic minority households

• although the survey estimates show differences in the rates of under-occupying for households in the 16 to 24 age group, the number of households surveyed was too small to draw firm conclusions

7. Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership)

• Location: England
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage of households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership)

	White British			All other ethnic groups
Housing tenure	White British %	White British Under-occupying households	White British All households	All other ethnic groups %	All other ethnic groups Under-occupying households	All other ethnic groups All households
Owner occupiers	53	6,702,018	12,733,724	38	593,837	1,574,662
Social rented housing	11	325,811	3,109,053	6	50,082	804,976
Private rented housing	16	478,644	2,984,994	10	133,250	1,406,057

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Households under-occupying their home Households under-occupying their home by ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership) Summary

The data shows that:

• White British households were more likely to be under-occupying their home compared with ethnic minority households, regardless of whether they owned or rented their home

8. Methodology

The EHS consists of:

• face-to-face interviews with a random sample of about 13,300 households a year
• a physical inspection of the homes of about 6,000 of the interviewed households – these are selected at random and carried out by a surveyor

The surveyor also inspects a random sample of about 200 properties identified by the interviewer as vacant.

Weighting:

Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population.

For example, a survey which contains 25% females and 75% males will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know is around 50% male and 50% female.

Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.

Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.

In the EHS, weighting makes the results more representative of the 22.6 million households in England.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Estimates based on less than 30 households have not been included in these statistics, because small numbers of households make it impossible to draw meaningful conclusions. The analysis has been done by binary classification only where broken down by socio-economic group, income, region or age. This prevents small numbers appearing in the table and avoids the potential for identification of individuals.

More detailed data, including some potentially disclosive data, is protected by a range of disclosure controls. See the guidance on English Housing Survey: datasets for information accessing this data.

Rounding

Estimates in the charts and tables are given to the nearest whole number. You can get more detailed estimates to 1 decimal place if you download the data.

Quality and methodology information

9. Data sources

Source

English Housing Survey

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Note on corrections or updates

Information published in the EHS headline report and other annual reports is usually based on a 12-month period, rather than the 2 years’ combined data used here. As a result, the statistics shown here may not match those in the EHS reports.

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.

10. Download the data

Households under-occupying their home - Spreadsheet (csv) 17 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, age group, NS-SEC (socio-economic group), income, region, housing tenure, value, denominator, numerator and sample size

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 2 March 2018

full page history

1. 2 March 2018 Minor updates for style and accuracy
2. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
3. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

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