Housing affordability trends by tenure
About 2 mins
Key points
- 32% of people are in households in the private rented sector that spend more than a third of their income on housing costs, compared with 14% of social renters and 3% who own their house with a mortgage.
- Private rents started to become less affordable in the 2000s, while social rents have become less affordable since 2010.
Housing affordability matters for health, both directly and indirectly. Difficulty paying the rent or mortgage can harm someone’s mental health, while spending more on housing leaves less income for other essentials that influence health, such as food and social activities.
This chart shows the proportion of people by tenure whose households are spending more than a third of their income (excluding housing benefit) on housing costs in the UK. Spending more than a third of household income on housing costs is an indicator of affordability problems.
- In 2023/24, 11% of all people in the UK were in households spending more than a third of their income on housing costs, which is equivalent to 7.4 million people.
- In 2023/24, 32% of people living in the private rented sector were classed as having an affordability problem, compared with 3% of people living in mortgaged homes. In the social rented sector, 14% of people lived in households who spent more than a third of their income on housing.
- Trends in affordability have differed by tenure over time:
- Affordability problems have increased in both the private and social rented sectors by 6 percentage points and 7 percentage points respectively in the past 10 years.
- In the past five years, the number of people in households with affordability problems in social rented homes has increased at a faster rate than in the previous two decades. One reason for this could be the reduction of government support for both social and private renters since 2013/14.
- In contrast, affordability problems have decreased by 3 percentage points in the past 10 years for people in households who own their homes with a mortgage. This partly reflects a prolonged period of low interest rates.
Recent trends in housing affordability are a continuation of a longer-term trend. This is characterised by an increase in the proportion of households experiencing affordability problems in both the private and social rented sectors, and a decrease for households who own their home with mortgages, apart from a short period around the 2008 financial crisis. In its most recent spending review, the government announced £39bn for affordable housing. It remains to be seen, when more recent data becomes available, the extent to which housing affordability has improved.
- Years shown are 3-year pooled averages, to maximise sample sizes. For example 2002/03 is a 3-year pooling of 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03. Data for 2020/21 have not been included in the pooling, so 2021/22 and 2022/23 figures are 2-year pooled averages. This is in line with the Department for Work and Pensions’ guidance related to data quality during the COVID-19 pandemic, when data were affected by the pandemic and were subject to additional uncertainty. Data for these periods should be viewed with caution and in line with broader trends.
- Housing affordability is measured here as housing costs (excluding housing benefit) divided by household income, and is adjusted according to household size to produce a ratio. If the ratio exceeds 0.33, the household is counted as having an affordability problem. Housing costs, including rent and mortgage interest payments, also include utility bills, such as water and council tax, as well as ground rent and service charges for owner-occupied homes.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Households below average income, 1994/95 to 2023/24
