National statistics

Chapter 3: Housing history and future housing

Published 14 December 2023

Applies to England

Introduction

This chapter begins by discussing the demographic and economic characteristics of first time buyers, before outlining the future buying expectations of renters. This is followed by an assessment of length of time in current accommodation and tenure, before finishing with household moves in the previous 12 months.

For an introduction and summary of main findings in this report as a whole, please see the Introduction and Key Findings page.

First time buyers

In 2022-23, there were around 874,000 recent first time buyers in England. Recent first time buyers are those who had bought a home for the first time in the last three years and had not previously owned a property. These figures fluctuate year on year due to small sample sizes, particularly in London and should be considered as indicative only, Annex Table 3.2.

Age

In 2022-23, the average (mean) age of first time buyers was 34 years. In London the average age of first time buyers was 35, in the rest of England it was 33 years, Annex Table 3.3 and Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Mean age of first time buyers, London and the rest of England, 2003-04 to 2022-23

^{Base: all recent first time buyers (resident for less than three years)
Note: underlying data are presented in Annex Table 3.3
Sources:
2003-04 to 2007-08: Survey of English Housing
2008-09 onwards: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

In 2022-23 the majority of first time buyers were aged between 25 and 34. There was a decrease in the proportion of first time buyers with a HRP aged between 35 and 44 from 2021-22, falling from 30% to 20% in 2022-23, although 2022-23 is similar to pre-pandemic proportions (22% in 2019-20). There was also an increase in the proportion of first time buyers aged 45 or older compared to 2019-20, rising from 5% to 13%, Annex Table 3.1.

Household type

In 2022-23, 40% of first time buyer households were couples with no dependent children, 32% were one person households and 24% were couples with dependent children. Lone parents with dependent children made up the smallest proportion of first time buyer households, at 2%, Annex Table 3.1.

There were fewer other multi-person first time buyer households in 2022-23 compared to 2021-22, with a decrease from 6% to 2%. However, the proportion of multi-person households is more consistent with pre COVID-19 levels (4% in 2019-20). There is no statistically significant change between 2019-20 and 2022-23.

First time buyer households consisting of one person increased since before the pandemic (2019-20), rising to 32% in 2022-23, Annex Table 3.1.

Future buying expectations

In 2022-23, 59% of private renters (2.6 million households) and 25% of social renters (1 million households) said they expected to buy a property at some point in the future, Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2: Percentage of private and social renters who expect to buy, 2012-13 to 2022-23

^{Base: all renting households
Note: underlying data are presented in Annex Table 3.4
Source: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

Among renters who expected to buy, in 2022-23, 30% of private renters expected to do so in five to ten years, an increase from the 26% in 2021-22. Social renters expecting to buy in 2022-23 were more likely to think it would be 10 years or more before they did so compared to 2021-22 (25% and 18% respectively).

Length of time in current accommodation and tenure

In 2022-23, owner occupiers had lived at their current address for an average of 16.8 years. Not surprisingly, outright owners lived in their current home for longer than mortgagors (23.2 years compared with 9.2 years), Annex Table 3.6.

The average number of years owner occupiers spent in their current address decreased, from 17.6 years in 2021-22 to 16.8 years in 2022-23. This is driven by outright owners, who lived in their current home for an average of 24.5 years in 2021-22, down to 23.2 in 2022-3. The change in average number of years in current home for private renters (from 4.4 to 4.3) and social renters (from 12.7 to 12.2) is not statistically significant.

Social renters lived at their current address for an average of 12.2 years, however local authority renters were more likely to have lived at their current address longer than housing association renters (13.4 years compared to 11.4 years).

Figure 3.3: Average number of years in current home, 2018-19 to 2022-23

^{Base: all households
Note: underlying data are presented in Annex Table 3.6
Source: English Housing Survey, full household sample}

Private renters lived at their current address for less time than other tenures, on average 4.3 years. For private renters who had been resident for less than 1 year in 2022-23, 67% were in private rented housing previously. Of social renters who had been residents for less than a year, 53% were previously tenants of social housing, Annex Table 3.7.

Household moves

In 2022-23, approximately 1.9 million households had moved home in the previous 12 months. The majority of household moves occurred within, into or out of private rented dwellings.  In total, 676,000 households moved within the tenure (from one privately rented home to another) and 192,000 new households moved into the private rented sector, Figure 3.4.

There was less movement in the social rented and owner occupied sectors. In 2022-23, there were 125,000 households that moved from one social rented property to another, and 32,000 new households moved into the sector.

In the owner occupied sector, 358,000 households moved within the tenure and 77,000 new households were created. There were 211,000 households  that moved into the tenure from the private rented sector.

Figure 3.4: Household moves, by tenure, 2022-23

^{Base: household reference persons resident less than a year
Notes:
1) underlying data are presented in Annex Tables 1.1 and 3.7
2) a small number of cases with inconsistent responses have been omitted
3) survey cannot identify the number of households which have ended
Source:  English Housing Survey, full household sample}

Technical notes and glossary

For technical information regarding caveats in this report, please see the technical note.

For a detailed glossary of terms please see the glossary.