Trends in duration of housing occupancy

There is an association between frequently moving home and poorer health, including mental health issues and other health conditions. This may be due to the factors that contribute to people moving homes, such as economic insecurity, as well as the moving process itself.

This chart shows the percentage of households that have lived in their current home for less than a year by tenure over time.

The percentage of private renters living in their home for less than a year has been decreasing in the long term, while at the same time there has been a rise in the number of households in the private rented sector.

• The percentage of private renters moving after 1 year has seen the biggest change over the past 10 years, dropping by 15 percentage points, although it remains quite high at 19.9%.
• The percentage of owner-occupiers and social renters who have moved home in the last year has remained broadly constant over the past decade at around 4% and 6–8% respectively.
• The difference in the percentage of private renters and owner-occupiers who have lived in their homes for less than a year has narrowed by 14 percentage points in the past 10 years.

A high turnover of housing is not necessarily a problem, as it can reflect different life stages, such as for students and younger adults. However, the much higher turnover of the private rented sector is partly explained by non-voluntary moves. Previous Health Foundation work on housing showed that 11% of moves were due to notices from landlords, while 6% stem from problems with housing conditions, payment or problems with landlords. Growing numbers of people are raising families in the private rented sector and this instability can have negative implications for children's health and wellbeing.