Households under-occupying their home

Published 7 April 2025

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in the 3 years to March 2023, 72% of the estimated 24 million households in England had at least 2 bedrooms more than they needed, meaning that they were under-occupied

• households from the White British (76%), White Irish (68%), Indian (66%), and Chinese (64%) ethnic groups were most likely to be under-occupied

• across all socio-economic groups and regions in England, White British households were more likely to under-occupy their home than households from all other ethnic groups combined, whether they owned or rented their home

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows the percentage of households under-occupying their home, by ethnicity.

A household is defined as under-occupied if it has 2 more bedrooms than it needs to avoid sharing, based on the age, sex and relationship of household members. For example, one separate bedroom would be needed by:

• a married or cohabiting couple
• someone aged 21 or over
• 2 children of the same sex aged 10 to 20 years old
• 2 children of any sex under 10 years old

The information relates to households of either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. It must be their main or only home.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Not included in the data

Estimates based on fewer than 5 households have not been included. This is to protect people’s confidentiality, and because it is harder to make reliable generalisations from smaller numbers of survey respondents.

The ethnic groups used in the data

The data uses the 18 ethnic groups from the 2011 Census.

For data analysed by ethnicity and another factor (for example socio-economic group), 2 ethnic groups are shown:

• White British
• Other – all ethnic minority groups combined (including White minorities)

This is to keep group sizes big enough to be able to make reliable generalisations.

Data is based on the ethnicity of the 'household reference person'. This is usually the person responsible for the tenancy or mortgage. If there are joint owners or tenants, it is the person with the highest income. If they have the same income, it is the oldest person.

The data does not account for people of different ethnic backgrounds who live in the same household.

Ethnicity was known for 99.9% of households.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.

The data is an average for the 3 years from April 2020 to March 2023. This is to make sure there are enough households to be able to make reliable generalisations. You can read more about combining multiple years of data and some of the issues involved.

The figures are based on survey data. Find out more about:

• interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people

• how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied

In the data file

Download the data for:

• percentages rounded to one decimal place
• sample sizes
• weighted figures for the numerator and denominator
• estimates for previous years

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2020 to March 2023 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) under-occupying their home, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Under-occupying households ('000s)	All households ('000s)
All	72	17,458	24,148
Asian	59	842	1,437
Bangladeshi	43	56	131
Chinese	64	83	131
Indian	66	419	639
Pakistani	51	167	330
Asian other	56	116	206
Black	45	315	702
Black African	41	177	436
Black Caribbean	53	114	217
Black other	49	24	48
Mixed	53	261	490
Mixed White/Asian	59	74	126
Mixed White/Black African	42	60	144
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	50	46	93
Mixed other	63	80	127
White	75	15,863	21,156
White British	76	15,116	19,805
White Irish	68	104	154
White Gypsy/Traveller	27	2	8
White other	54	641	1,189
Other	49	178	362
Arab	30	20	66
Any other	54	158	296

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

4. By ethnicity and socio-economic group

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2020 to March 2023 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) under-occupying their home, by ethnicity and socio-economic group

	All			White British			Other than White British
nssec	All %	All Under-occupied households ('000s)	All All households ('000s)	White British %	White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	White British All households ('000s)	Other than White British %	Other than White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	Other than White British All households ('000s)
All	73	16,378	22,485	77	14,282	18,598	54	2,096	3,887
Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations	80	9,224	11,530	84	7,994	9,542	62	1,230	1,988
Intermediate occupations	71	3,396	4,764	75	2,986	3,959	51	411	805
Routine and manual occupations	61	3,757	6,190	65	3,302	5,097	42	455	1,094

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

5. By ethnicity and income

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2020 to March 2023 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) under-occupying their home, by ethnicity and weekly income

	All			White British			Other than White British
Income band	All %	All Under-occupied households ('000s)	All All households ('000s)	White British %	White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	White British All households ('000s)	Other than White British %	Other than White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	Other than White British All households ('000s)
Up to 99GBP	46	127	274	47	103	222	45	23	52
100GBP to 199GBP	55	756	1,373	58	653	1,128	42	103	245
200GBP to 299GBP	62	1,402	2,261	65	1,255	1,934	45	147	327
300GBP to 399GBP	65	1,456	2,226	70	1,301	1,864	43	155	362
400GBP to 499GBP	70	1,472	2,114	75	1,317	1,765	44	155	349
500GBP to 599GBP	73	1,498	2,044	77	1,296	1,682	56	202	362
600GBP to 699GBP	72	1,314	1,835	78	1,183	1,526	43	131	309
700GBP to 799GBP	75	1,282	1,717	80	1,124	1,400	50	158	317
800GBP to 899GBP	78	1,187	1,515	83	1,010	1,224	61	178	291
900GBP to 999GBP	77	935	1,207	82	788	963	60	147	244
1000GBP and above	80	6,030	7,581	83	5,086	6,098	64	943	1,483
All	72	17,458	24,148	76	15,116	19,805	54	2,342	4,343

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

6. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2020 to March 2023 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) under-occupying their home, by ethnicity and area

	All			White British			Other than White British
Region	All %	All Under-occupied households ('000s)	All All households ('000s)	White British %	White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	White British All households ('000s)	Other than White British %	Other than White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	Other than White British All households ('000s)
All	72	17,458	24,148	76	15,116	19,805	54	2,342	4,343
East	75	1,990	2,668	76	1,749	2,290	64	241	378
East Midlands	78	1,625	2,085	81	1,458	1,805	60	167	281
London	56	2,039	3,635	66	1,238	1,892	46	801	1,743
North East	78	943	1,205	80	891	1,121	62	52	84
North West	76	2,452	3,228	78	2,236	2,863	59	216	365
South East	73	2,870	3,908	76	2,548	3,341	57	321	567
South West	75	1,918	2,542	77	1,805	2,338	55	113	204
West Midlands	75	1,871	2,485	79	1,607	2,041	60	265	444
Yorkshire and the Humber	73	1,750	2,392	75	1,583	2,116	60	167	276

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

7. By ethnicity and age group

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2020 to March 2023 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) under-occupying their home, by ethnicity and age group

	All			White British			Other than White British
Age group	All %	All Under-occupied households ('000s)	All All households ('000s)	White British %	White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	White British All households ('000s)	Other than White British %	Other than White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	Other than White British All households ('000s)
16 - 24	47	366	771	50	290	580	39	75	190
25 - 34	60	2,143	3,593	64	1,682	2,615	47	461	978
35 - 44	62	2,489	3,999	67	1,869	2,771	51	620	1,228
45 - 54	71	3,132	4,443	75	2,621	3,493	54	511	950
55 - 64	77	3,319	4,304	79	2,994	3,770	61	325	534
65 or over	85	6,010	7,039	86	5,660	6,576	76	350	463
All	72	17,458	24,148	76	15,116	19,805	54	2,342	4,343

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

8. By ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership)

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2020 to March 2023 (combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

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

	All			White British			Other than White British
Housing tenure	All %	All Under-occupied households ('000s)	All All households ('000s)	White British %	White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	White British All households ('000s)	Other than White British %	Other than White British Under-occupied households ('000s)	Other than White British All households ('000s)
All	72	17,458	24,148	76	15,116	19,805	54	2,342	4,343
owners	88	13,659	15,611	89	12,214	13,757	78	1,445	1,855
private renters	53	2,387	4,541	59	1,735	2,967	41	652	1,574
social sector	35	1,413	3,996	38	1,167	3,082	27	246	914

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

9. Data sources

Source

English Housing Survey

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Note on corrections or updates

Information published in the English Housing Survey 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 English Housing Survey reports.

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey. It collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.

10. Download the data

Under-occupied homes data - Spreadsheet (csv) 42 KB

measure time time_type ethnicity ethnicity_type geography nssec income_band region age_group tenure value numerator denominator sample_size

Publication release date: 7 April 2025

full page history

1. 7 April 2025 Updated with the latest available data.

From: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Previous editions:

1. 27 April 2020
2. 2 March 2018

---

Share this page

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn