Age of first-time buyers
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1. Main facts and figures
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the average age of a White British first-time buyer was 33
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the average age of Black African, Other Asian and Any Other ethnic group first time buyers was higher than White British first-time buyers
Things you need to know
Compared with White British households, ethnic minority households tend to be younger, to have lived in England for a shorter time and to be located in urban areas. They are also likely to live in larger households and in rented accommodation.
To ensure that there is a large enough number of ethnic minority households to produce reliable findings, the Department for Communities and Local Government has added together 2 years of data (2014/15 and 2015/16) from the English Housing Survey (EHS).
Information about households in the EHS Headline and Annual reports is normally based on a 12-month period (April to March). As the statistics on this page combine data from 2014/15 and 2015/16, the numbers here may not match the figures in those individual reports.
The commentary has focused on findings based on subgroups of at least 30 households to ensure that we report reliable findings. For this reason, estimates for Bangladeshi, Other Black, Mixed White and Asian, Mixed White and Black African, Mixed White and Black Caribbean, Other Mixed, Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Travellers and Arab households have not been presented in some of the tables or charts.
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 include the average age of first-time buyers. In 2015/16, the average age at which first-time buyers bought their home was 33.
Unless stated otherwise, 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 the average age of first-time buyers when they’re buying a home in England, broken down by ethnicity.
First-time buyers are home buyers who, when surveyed in 2014/15 or 2015/16, had bought a home for the first time in the previous 3 years.
The figures come from the English Housing Survey 2014/15 and 2015/16.
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.
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 it is a group, they must share cooking facilities and also share 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 accommodation is owned or rented, or who is otherwise responsible for it.
Some households have people from different ethnic backgrounds; where this happens, we have used the ethnic background of the household reference person.
Nearly every household reference person – more than 99.8% interviewed – provided information on their ethnicity.
The ethnic categories used in this data
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
2. Average age of first-time buyers by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Age |
|---|---|
| Asian | |
| Bangladeshi | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Chinese | 37 |
| Indian | 33 |
| Pakistani | 32 |
| Asian other | 36 |
| Black | |
| Black African | 38 |
| Black Caribbean | 35 |
| Black other | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Mixed | |
| Mixed White/Asian | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Mixed White/Black African | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Mixed other | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White | |
| White British | 33 |
| White Irish | 36 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White other | 34 |
| Other | |
| Arab | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Any other | 38 |
Download table data for ‘Average age of first-time buyers by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Average age of first-time buyers by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Age of first-time buyers Average age of first-time buyers by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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the average age of a White British first-time buyer was 33 – this was younger than for the Black African (38), Any Other (38) and Any Other Asian (36) ethnic groups
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first-time buyers from some ethnic groups in this sample were as old or older than White British first-time buyers – namely, White Irish, Any other White, Indian, Chinese and Black Caribbean – however, these survey estimates are not reliable enough to draw any conclusions about differences between these groups in the total population
3. 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.
In the EHS, weighting makes the results more representative of the 22 million households in England.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has ‘suppressed’ estimates based on fewer than 30 households.
‘Suppression’ means these figures have not been included in the data because the numbers involved are too small to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Where the size of the ethnic group population is small enough that an individual’s identity could be revealed, some other figures have also been excluded. This type of exclusion, also called ‘suppression’ of data, is consistent with DCLG’s statistical policy statement on confidentiality. The data is deposited in the UK Data Archive, after applying a wide range of disclosure control.
Strictly disclosure-controlled data in the form of derived variables is available under the End-User Licence (for example, ethnicity is given as White/ethnic minority).
Data sets with some more details are made available under Special Licence after the user has applied to the English Housing Survey team for access.
Data that could potentially reveal someone’s identity (such as a postcode) is available only through UKDA Secure Access. To gain access, a user must complete special training, including on disclosure control.
Rounding
Estimates in the charts and tables are given to the nearest whole number. More detailed estimates to 1 decimal place are available in the downloads.
Quality and methodology information
4. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The English Housing Survey (EHS) is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). It collects information about:
- people’s housing circumstances
- the condition and energy efficiency of housing
5. Download the data
This file contains: year, ethnicity, mean age, standard deviation, sample size