Income spent on rent for new lettings of social housing
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Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates
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1. Main facts and figures
- in 2017/18, there were 297,565 new social housing lettings where the ethnicity of the main tenant was known
- the percentage of income (including benefits) spent on rent for new social housing lettings is similar across all ethnic groups, ranging from 33% to 40% – by comparison, the percentages in 2016/17 ranged from 34% to 41%
- Black Caribbean households spent the largest percentage of their income on rent compared to all other ethnic groups, while Pakistani and Other White households spent the lowest percentage – this was also the case in 2015/16 and 2016/17
Things you need to know
Social housing is provided by local authorities and private registered providers (mainly housing associations).
This data relates to new, permanent lettings of social housing. It excludes lettings where a tenant starts a new tenancy agreement but stays in the same property (after their previous tenancy agreement ended).
The data only includes lettings where the tenant reported their ethnicity. This means that figures for new lettings published here may be different from other published figures on social housing.
There were 312,989 new social housing lettings in 2017/18. The ethnicity of the main tenant was known for 297,565 of these new lettings (95%), and refused or missing for 15,655 lettings (5%).
There may be some inaccuracy in the administrative data used to compile these statistics due to missing responses or reporting errors when the data was entered.
When interpreting the income data, one should bear in mind that a significant proportion (43%) of new social households refused to disclose their income.
Household income used in these figures does not take account of the size or membership of households, which means that we can’t make statements about whether some ethnic groups are poorer compared to others.
For example, 2 households may have the same number of people, but in one household there are several dependent children, while in the other, everyone is employed. In this data, the amount of rent as a percentage of household income has not been adjusted to reflect these differences.
The raw data has been taken from the Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales in Social Housing (CORE) system. The statistics presented on this page have not been published separately by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
What the data measures
This data measures the amount of rent paid for social housing lettings as a percentage of income, including benefits. The data is broken down by ethnicity.
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 data uses the ethnicity of the main tenant. For a single tenancy, this is the named tenant.
For a joint tenancy, the main tenant is:
- the economically active or working person
- the oldest person, if both tenants are working or both are not working
These figures are drawn from the Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales in Social Housing (CORE) system in 2016/17. CORE is a complete census of new social housing lettings, which records:
- social housing lettings
- affordable housing lettings
- sales by private registered providers
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. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| All | N/A* | 36 | 35 |
| Asian | |||
| Bangladeshi | 38 | 36 | 35 |
| Chinese | 38 | 40 | 36 |
| Indian | 38 | 38 | 37 |
| Pakistani | 34 | 34 | 33 |
| Asian other | 39 | 38 | 37 |
| Black | |||
| Black African | 38 | 38 | 37 |
| Black Caribbean | 43 | 41 | 40 |
| Black other | 40 | 37 | 38 |
| Mixed | |||
| Mixed White/Asian | 40 | 39 | 37 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 39 | 38 | 37 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 40 | 39 | 39 |
| Mixed other | 38 | 38 | 37 |
| White | |||
| White British | 37 | 36 | 35 |
| White Irish | 40 | 40 | 39 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 39 | 37 | 36 |
| White other | 34 | 34 | 33 |
| Other | |||
| Arab | 38 | 38 | 36 |
| Any other | 38 | 37 | 38 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Income spent on rent for new lettings of social housing By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2017/18, the percentage of income spent on rent for new social housing lettings was similar across all ethnic groups, with a national average of 35%
- Black Caribbean households spent 40% of their income on rent for new social housing lettings, the highest of all ethnic groups – Black Caribbean households also spent the highest percentage of their income on rent in 2015/16 and 2016/17
- households from the Pakistani and Other White ethnic groups spent the lowest percentage of their income on rent for new social housing lettings in 2017/18, at 33% each – households from these ethnic groups also spent the lowest percentage of their income on rent in 2015/16 and 2016/17
3. By ethnicity and area
| Ethnicity | East Midlands | East of England | London | North East | North West | South East | South West | West Midlands | Yorkshire & Humber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Asian | |||||||||
| Bangladeshi | 29 | 34 | 40 | 24 | 27 | 34 | 29 | 31 | 30 |
| Chinese | 28 | 33 | 46 | 26 | 33 | 30 | 40 | 31 | 34 |
| Indian | 33 | 37 | 47 | 26 | 35 | 39 | 31 | 36 | 37 |
| Pakistani | 31 | 33 | 42 | 31 | 32 | 35 | 36 | 32 | 32 |
| Asian other | 33 | 34 | 43 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 35 | 39 | 35 |
| Black | |||||||||
| Black African | 33 | 37 | 42 | 31 | 33 | 38 | 33 | 35 | 33 |
| Black Caribbean | 35 | 42 | 45 | 35 | 36 | 42 | 36 | 37 | 35 |
| Black other | 35 | 38 | 46 | 33 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 33 |
| Mixed | |||||||||
| Mixed White/Asian | 36 | 38 | 49 | 39 | 35 | 38 | 32 | 37 | 35 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 35 | 38 | 45 | 36 | 35 | 38 | 35 | 34 | 33 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 36 | 38 | 47 | 29 | 36 | 39 | 39 | 38 | 34 |
| Mixed other | 34 | 36 | 44 | 32 | 35 | 38 | 34 | 37 | 33 |
| White | |||||||||
| White British | 34 | 37 | 46 | 33 | 34 | 38 | 34 | 35 | 34 |
| White Irish | 35 | 38 | 49 | 40 | 36 | 40 | 38 | 37 | 35 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 31 | 41 | 45 | 29 | 32 | 40 | 34 | 31 | 27 |
| White other | 28 | 34 | 43 | 29 | 29 | 36 | 28 | 31 | 27 |
| Other | |||||||||
| Arab | 31 | 36 | 42 | 31 | 35 | 37 | 35 | 37 | 33 |
| Any other | 35 | 35 | 43 | 41 | 35 | 35 | 34 | 39 | 34 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Income spent on rent for new lettings of social housing By ethnicity and area Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2017/18, the percentage of income spent on rent for new social housing lettings was highest in London for all ethnic groups, ranging from 40% for Bangladeshi households to 49% for both White Irish, and Mixed White and Asian households
- the percentage was lowest in the North East, ranging from 24% for Bangladeshi households to 41% for households from the Other ethnic group
4. Methodology
The 3 main types of housing tenure in England are:
- owner occupiers
- private renters
- social renters
This data refers to new lettings to social renters only. The data is based on the data collected from providers via the on-line Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales in Social Housing in England (CORE) system. CORE was first set up in 1989 and initially only required private registered providers (PRPs) to submit social housing lettings and sales information to support the government’s regulatory function. CORE’s remit expanded in 2004 to include local authority information.
Some questions on the CORE questionnaire are not compulsory. In particular, data on household characteristics (age, sex, economic status, ethnicity and nationality) may not be available to the housing officer or may be refused by the tenant.
The totals for new lettings used in this data differs from other published totals for new lettings, as this data does not use estimated data for ethnicity and excludes those where ethnicity was refused.
Information on lettings of social housing in England is provided by local authorities and private registered providers (previously known as housing associations). Information about the tenancy, the tenants and the property is collected by data providers each time there is a new letting of a social housing property.
Weighting:
Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.
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.
Data here has been weighted at the national level, but not at the regional or local authority area level. Weights are calculated for groups of similar local authorities, where these groups are defined by the Office of National Statistics UK area classifications, and they are based on the comparison with data from another Department for Communities and Local Government source on social housing data (Local Authority Housing Statistics).
For further information on weighting, see the Quality Report.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Values of 1 or 2 have been suppressed, mainly to avoid possible risk of people’s identity being revealed. This is consistent with the way the confidentiality of data within the Continuous Recording (CORE) system is maintained.
The Continuous Recording (CORE) system records information anonymously and maintains absolute confidentiality on tenants’ circumstances. Access to record-level information is only available through a licence agreement.
Further information on CORE disclosure practices can be found on the CORE website (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).
Rounding
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
Quality and methodology information
5. Data sources
Source
Social housing lettings in England: April 2017 to March 2018
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The aim of Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales in Social Housing in England (CORE) is to provide information about new social housing lettings, sales, tenants and buyers across England.
This information is used by government bodies and organisations to inform social housing funding, regulatory and housing policy decisions.
6. Download the data
This files contains the following: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, Geography_code, Geography_name. Geography_type, Value