Housing with damp problems
Published
1. Main facts and figures
- in the 2 years to March 2023, an average of 4% of households in England had damp in at least one room
- 22% of Mixed White and Black Caribbean households had a problem with damp, followed by 14% of Black African households, and 8% of households in both the Pakistani and Black Caribbean ethnic groups
- 4% of White British households lived in a home with damp
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of households in England with damp in one or more rooms.
A home with damp has either:
- rising damp, where water slowly moves up the lower sections of walls and other ground-supported structures
- penetrating damp, where water penetrates a building through walls, roofs or windows and appears inside
- serious condensation or mould
The data 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 are rounded to the nearest whole number. They have been worked out using unrounded numbers.
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
Data is shown for the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.
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.
99.8% of households reported their ethnicity.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
The data is an average for the 2 years from April 2021 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.
Figures are based on survey data. Find out more about:
-
interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
-
how weighting is used to make survey results more representative of the whole population they cover
In the data file
Download the data for:
- figures rounded to 1 decimal place
- sample sizes
- weighted figures for the numerator and denominator
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Number of households with damp ('000s) | All households ('000s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | 4 | 1,009 | 24,310 |
| Asian | 4 | 65 | 1,474 |
| Bangladeshi | 4 | 4 | 103 |
| Chinese | 0 | 0 | 137 |
| Indian | 3 | 17 | 618 |
| Pakistani | 8 | 32 | 396 |
| Asian other | 5 | 11 | 220 |
| Black | 12 | 102 | 821 |
| Black African | 14 | 79 | 556 |
| Black Caribbean | 8 | 18 | 224 |
| Black other | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 41 |
| Mixed | 6 | 28 | 472 |
| Mixed White and Asian | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 99 |
| Mixed White and Black African | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 112 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 22 | 21 | 96 |
| Mixed other | 0 | 0 | 165 |
| White | 4 | 789 | 21,205 |
| White British | 4 | 749 | 19,720 |
| White Irish | 0 | 0 | 149 |
| Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| White other | 3 | 40 | 1,324 |
| Other | 8 | 26 | 337 |
| Arab | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 56 |
| Other ethnic background | 7 | 20 | 281 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Housing with damp problems By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
- in the 2 years to March 2023, an average of 4% of households in England had damp in at least one room of their home
- Mixed White and Black Caribbean (22%), Black African (14%) households were more likely to have damp problems than White British households (4%)
- 3% of Indian households had damp problems
4. Data sources
Source
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.
5. Download the data
measure time time_type ethnicity ethnicity_type geography nssec income_band region age_group tenure value numerator denominator sample_size