Time spent living in current home
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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group section
- 4. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and income section
- 5. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity by area section
- 6. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of tenure section
- 7. Navigate to Methodology section
- 8. Navigate to Data sources section
- 9. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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White British households on average lived at their current address for 15 years; this is longer than for almost all other ethnic groups
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in all socio-economic groups, income bands, areas of the country and tenure types, White British households lived at their address for longer than any other ethnic group, including White ethnic minorities
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 people to ensure that we report reliable findings.
The number of Gypsies, Travellers or Irish Travellers interviewed is very small. To avoid disclosing personal information about individuals in those groups, information about them is not 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 length of time that people have spent living in their current home.
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 (mean) length of time, in years and months, that people in England have lived in their current home.
The data is broken down by ethnicity and:
- whether they own their home, rent privately or rent through social housing
- the type of occupation they have
- their level of income
- which region of England they live in
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.
At the geographical level, the data is shown for the nine regions of England: North East, North West, Yorkshire & Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East and the South West.
The ethnic categories used in this data
This data compares the experiences of different ethnic groups in 2 ways:
- White British households compared with all other households
- the standardised ethnic groups based on the 2011 Census
The 2011 Census groups are:
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. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Time in current home |
|---|---|
| Asian | |
| Bangladeshi | 9 years 1 months |
| Chinese | 6 years 0 months |
| Indian | 11 years 1 months |
| Pakistani | 10 years 8 months |
| Asian other | 8 years 1 months |
| Black | |
| Black African | 6 years 5 months |
| Black Caribbean | 14 years 4 months |
| Black other | 8 years 10 months |
| Mixed | |
| Mixed White/Asian | 9 years 8 months |
| Mixed White/Black African | 6 years 2 months |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 8 years 2 months |
| Mixed other | 6 years 2 months |
| White | |
| White British | 15 years 1 months |
| White Irish | 15 years 10 months |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White other | 5 years 9 months |
| Other | |
| Arab | 5 years 9 months |
| Any other | 7 years 1 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
-
White British households on average lived at their current address for 15 years; this is longer than for almost all other ethnic groups
-
White Irish households lived at their address for longer than White British households – however, these survey estimates are not reliable enough to draw any conclusions about differences between these groups in the total population
-
Black Caribbean households lived at their address for a shorter time than White British households - however, these survey estimates are not reliable enough to draw conclusions about differences between these groups in the total population
3. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group
| Ethnicity | Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations | Intermediate occupations | Routine and manual occupations |
|---|---|---|---|
| White British | 13 years 6 months | 16 years 0 months | 16 years 2 months |
| All other ethnic groups | 7 years 9 months | 9 years 4 months | 9 years 0 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary
This data shows that:
- in all socio-economic groups, White British households tended to live at their address for longer compared with all other ethnic groups
4. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income
| Weekly income | White British | All other ethnic groups |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Time | |
| Up to £99 | 8 years 2 months | 4 years 11 months |
| £100 to £199 | 16 years 1 months | 9 years 2 months |
| £200 to £299 | 19 years 3 months | 10 years 6 months |
| £300 to £399 | 17 years 4 months | 8 years 5 months |
| £400 to £499 | 16 years 7 months | 9 years 3 months |
| £500 to £599 | 15 years 2 months | 7 years 6 months |
| £600 to £699 | 15 years 2 months | 8 years 5 months |
| £700 to £799 | 14 years 3 months | 7 years 9 months |
| £800 to £899 | 13 years 4 months | 8 years 0 months |
| £900 to £999 | 13 years 7 months | 8 years 1 months |
| £1000 and above | 12 years 1 months | 8 years 7 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income Summary
This data shows that:
- in all income groups, White British households tended to live at their address for longer compared with all other ethnic groups
5. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity by area
| Region | White British | All other ethnic groups |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Time | |
| North East | 15 years 6 months | 7 years 5 months |
| North West | 15 years 8 months | 9 years 3 months |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 14 years 9 months | 8 years 6 months |
| East Midlands | 14 years 10 months | 8 years 7 months |
| West Midlands | 16 years 11 months | 9 years 8 months |
| East | 15 years 2 months | 7 years 4 months |
| London | 15 years 3 months | 9 years 2 months |
| South East | 14 years 0 months | 7 years 3 months |
| South West | 14 years 4 months | 6 years 4 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity by area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity by area’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity by area Summary
This data shows that:
- in all regions of the country, White British households tended to live at their address for longer compared with all other ethnic groups
6. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of tenure
| Ethnicity | Owner occupiers | Social rented housing | Private rented housing |
|---|---|---|---|
| White British | 18 years and 2 months | 12 years and 2 months | 4 years and 10 months |
| All other ethnic groups | 13 years and 8 months | 8 years and 10 months | 2 years and 8 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of tenure’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of tenure’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of tenure Summary
This data shows that:
- White British households tended to live at their address for longer compared to all other ethnic groups for all tenure types
7. 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 22.6 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. 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 are rounded to the nearest year.
Estimates in the tables are given to the nearest year and month.
Further technical information
English Housing Survey guidance and methodology
8. Data sources
Source
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.
9. Download the data
This file contains: ethnicity, period, NS-SEC, income band, region, tenure, standard deviation, sample size