National statistics

Social housing lettings in England, tenancies: April 2022 to March 2023

Updated 6 March 2024

Applies to England

1. In this release:

• There were 252,000 new social housing lettings in 2022/23, a decrease of 6% from the 267,000 lettings reported in 2021/22.

• Of the new social housing lettings in 2022/23, 75% were General Needs (up from 73% in 2021/22) and 25% were Supported Housing (down from 27%).

• Social Rent comprised 83% of new social housing lettings in 2022/23, with Affordable Rent comprising 16% and Intermediate Rent comprising 1%, similar to 2021/22.

• Private registered providers were the landlord for 71% of new social lettings, with local authorities providing the remaining 29% in 2022/23.

• Most new social lettings in 2022/23 were relets of existing social housing stock (87%). Of the remaining 13% the majority were properties that were newly built.

• The median number of days an existing social property was vacant before being relet as social housing was 30 days in 2022/23, having been consistent at 20 days from 2015/16 to 2019/20.

• In 2022/23, the North East had the highest rate of churn in England - the proportion of existing social stock that is relet - at 7.1%.

• 78% of new social lettings in 2022/23 were lifetime tenancies compared to 78% in 2021/22. Almost all new local authority lettings were lifetime (91%).

• The median weekly rent for new social housing lettings in 2022/23 was £93 compared to £89 in 2021/22. Regional differences saw average rents in London at £127 per week, compared to £81 in Yorkshire and the Humber.

2. Introduction

This series is about new social housing lettings in England in 2022/23 by local authorities and private registered providers. It covers new Social Rent, Affordable Rent and Intermediate Rent lets, for both General Needs and Supported Housing.

This “Tenancies” report focuses on information about the tenancies, rents, properties and stock ‘churn’ – how frequently social housing is relet.

The separate “Tenants” report focuses on the people living in these new social lettings – who they are, where they lived before, why they left their previous home, how long they were on the waiting list for, their route into social housing and whether they got suitable properties. It is available from the same landing page.

What are social housing lettings?

Social housing lettings are when social housing properties - homes owned or used by social landlords - are rented by households at cheaper rents than in the private sector. Social landlords can be a local authority (often known as “council housing”) or a private registered provider (which includes housing associations). They must be registered with the Regulator of Social Housing. In most areas, social housing is allocated by the local authority. Each local authority runs a “waiting list” as there are more people applying for social housing than properties available. In 2022/23, 16% of households in England live in social housing^{[footnote 1]}.

New social housing lettings comprise a small part of the whole social rental sector as only 6% of the 4.2 million social properties were let during 2022/23.

3. New social housing lettings

3.1 Overall trends

In 2022/23, there were 252,000 new social housing lettings, a fall of 6% or 15,000 lettings from the previous year. This year’s decrease follows the pre- Covid-19 long term trend of a decline in new social lettings, and at a broadly similar rate.

New social lettings decreased in 2022/23 by 6% from the previous year continuing the long term trend in decreasing lettings

Figure 1: Number of new social lettings by type 2007/08 - 2022/23

3.2 Housing type and rent type

What types of social housing are there?

Social housing can be broken down in many ways, by the type of organisation providing the letting, support provided and the rent basis. The tenants in these different groups have different needs and characteristics.

Definition: Needs type

Supported Housing (SH)	Housing with special design facilities or features targeted at a specific client group requiring support, for example housing designed for older people.
General Needs (GN)	The most common type of social stock. Housing that is not designated for specific client groups requiring support, or stock that does not have the special design features that are specific to Supported Housing.

Most new social housing lettings are not designed for a specific client group and are thus considered General Needs. These were by far the most common kind of social housing making up 75% of all new lettings in 2022/23, continuing the trend of the last 14 years.

General Needs lettings remain the most common type of letting, continuing the trend of the last 14 years

Figure 2: Percentages of new social lettings by needs types 2007/08 - 2022/23

Table 1: Comparison of new 2022/23 lettings to 2022/23 lettings by needs type

Needs type	2022/23 new lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	2021/22 new lettings	2021/22 percentage of total	Change in new lettings	Percentage change
General Needs	188,019	75%	193,964	73%	-5,945	-3%
Supported Housing	63,848	25%	72,778	27%	-8,930	-12%

Definition: Rent types

Social Rent (SR)	The most common type of rent. It is set in accordance with a national formula that takes account of relative local earnings, the property’s relative value and the number of bedrooms it has (for further details, please see Chapter 2 of the Government’s policy statement on rents for social housing)[footnote 2].
Affordable Rent (AR)	Where the rent to be paid by tenants can be no more than 80% of the market value for the property.
Intermediate Rent (IR)	Often part of a specific named scheme. Rent must not exceed 80% of the current market rate, the reduced rent is an opportunity for the tenant to save towards a house purchasing deposit. There may also be a future opportunity to purchase all or a share of the property currently being rented.

Social Rent comprised the vast majority (83%) of new social housing lettings in 2022/23. This was similar to the 84% in 2021/22.

Affordable Rent comprised 16% of all new social lettings in 2022/23, compared to 15% in 2021/22. The Affordable Rent programme began in 2011/12 for PRPs and in the following year for LAs. In 2012/13 it made up 7% of new lets and increased quickly to 13% in 2015/16. Since this increase the percentage of new lettings rented at Affordable rent has remained stable.

In 2017/18 the Rent to Buy programme was introduced. In 2021/22 Intermediate Rent was added as a new category in CORE to make it clearer how to record these lettings. As Rent to Buy is one type of Intermediate Rent, it became a sub-group of the new category. Intermediate Rent as a whole comprised 1% of new lettings in 2022/23, or 2,400 lettings. Of the 2,400 new Intermediate Rent lettings in 2022/23, 600 were Rent to Buy, 400 were London living Rent and the remaining 1,500 were other types of Intermediate Rent.

Social Rent remains by far the most common rent type for new social lettings

Figure 3: Percentages of new social lettings by rent types 2007/08 - 2022/23

Table 2: Comparison of new 2022/23 lettings to 2021/22 lettings by rent types

Rent type	2022/23 lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	2021/22 lettings	2021/22 percentage of total	Change in lettings	Percentage change
Social Rent	209,190	83%	224,873	84%	-15,683	-7%
Affordable Rent	40,229	16%	39,783	15%	446	1%
Intermediate Rent	2,448	1%	2,086	1%	362	17%

3.3 Providers of social housing

Who owns and lets social housing?

There are two types of social housing providers: local authorities and private registered providers. This section describes the key differences between these types of organisations and the lettings they provide.

Definition: Social housing providers

Local Authority (LA)	Commonly known as “council housing”. This is social housing provided directly by local government.
Private Registered Provider (PRP)	Commonly known as “housing associations”. These are providers of social housing who are private or charitable organisations and are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing.

PRPs accounted for 73% of organisations providing social housing in 2022/23, but only provided 71% of new lettings. On average each LA provided 449 new lettings in 2022/23, higher than the 405 average for PRPs. This suggests that the average PRP services fewer households than the average LA.

Compared to 2021/22 the number of Local Authority providers has increased from 152 to 162 in 2022/23 while the average number of lettings has decreased from 501 to 449. For Private Registered Providers the number of providers has increased slightly since 2021/22 from 439 to 442 and the average number of lettings per provider has fallen from 434 to 405.

PRPs account for the majority of providers and new lettings for 2022/23

Figure 4: Comparison of numbers of providers and lettings by provider types for new social lettings in 2022/23

Table 3: Comparison of new 2022/23 lettings to 2021/22 lettings by provider types

Provider type	2022/23 lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	2021/22 lettings	2021/22 percentage of total	Change in lettings	Percentage change
Local Authority	72,661	29%	76,093	29%	-3,432	-5%
Private Registered Provider	179,206	71%	190,649	71%	-11,443	-6%

Figure 5 shows that there are far more PRPs than LAs. Most individual PRPs provided a smaller number of new lettings than most LAs but there are a few PRPs which provided a large amount of lettings.

Most individual PRPs provide a smaller number of new lettings than most LA in 2022/23

Figure 5: Distribution of new lettings by provider type and organisation, 2022/23

The 20 largest social housing providers (in terms of new lets) provided 27% of all new lets despite constituting just 3% of all organisations. Of these 20, only one was a local authority (Leeds City Council). The top three largest PRPs were Riverside Housing Group, Anchor Hanover and Sanctuary Housing Association. These three PRPs combined provided 6% of all new lettings in 2022/23 (16,000 new lettings).

The proportion of new social lettings provided by LAs had been gradually falling for the last 14 years, however in 2022/23 it remains the same as the previous year

Figure 6: Percentage of new social lettings by provider type, 2007/08 - 2022/23

Since 2007/08 the share of new lettings provided by local authorities has been gradually falling to their current levels, from 40% to 29%.

Whilst new social lettings as a whole have fallen by 36% since the peak in 2013/14, LAs saw a decrease of 42% compared to a PRP decrease of 34%.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the overall trend in new lettings, with a substantial fall in 2020/21 and sizeable rebound the following year. The impact was slightly worse for LA-provided new lets, with the LA share of new lets falling from 30% to 27% from 2019/20 to 2020/21, before rising again to 29% in 2021/22.

The LA share of new lettings has remained at 29% in 2022/23, the number of PRP-provided lettings decreased by 6% and LA-provided lettings decreased by 5%.

The long-term trend of a declining LA share of new lettings can be partly attributed to LA stock shrinking by 6% since 2013/14. In contrast, PRP stock has grown by 10% during the same period. In total, over the last decade social housing stock has been increasing each year and now stands at 4.2 million units.

This suggests other factors are responsible for the decline of new social lettings since 2013/14, for example, the widening affordability gap between social and market rents.

Stock levels increase from building new social homes, rehabilitating existing social homes, buying or leasing homes from the private rental sector, and converting properties from other uses (e.g. commercial buildings). Stock levels decrease from selling off stock, for example through programmes like Right to Buy, and demolishing properties. Stock can also be sold or transferred between LAs and PRPs.

New PRP lettings have fallen despite PRP stock rising since 2011/12, whilst new LA lettings have fallen by more than LA stock has

Figure 7: Changes in lettings and stock by provider type as a percentage of 2011/12 values

3.4 Location of new lettings

All regions in England saw a decrease in new social housing lettings in 2022/23 compared to the previous year. The percentage decrease was the largest in the West Midlands at 10.3%, with the smallest in Yorkshire and the Humber at 0.5%.

Since the 2013/14 peak in new lettings all regions have seen a decrease but the scale of the fall has varied across the regions. London saw the biggest fall in new lettings with a 50% fall. The East of England saw the smallest fall, with a 24% decrease in new lettings since 2013/14.

As in 2021/22, the North West is the region with the most new lettings in 2022/23 (16% of total) while the East Midlands has the fewest lettings (9% of total).

Since 2013/14 all regions have seen a decrease in lettings. This decrease has been largest in London.

Figure 8: New social lettings by region, 2007/08 - 2022/23

Table 4: Regional changes in new lettings 2021/22 - 2022/23

Region Name	2022/23 lettings	2022/23 percentage of total	2021/22 lettings	2021/22 percentage of total	Change in lettings	Percentage change
East Midlands	20,300	8.5%	21,800	8.6%	-1,500	-7.1%
East of England	26,600	11.1%	27,500	10.9%	-1,000	-3.5%
London	22,200	9.3%	23,500	9.3%	-1,300	-5.7%
North East	20,600	8.6%	21,900	8.6%	-1,300	-5.9%
North West	37,400	15.7%	40,200	15.9%	-2,700	-6.8%
South East	30,600	12.9%	33,800	13.3%	-3,200	-9.3%
South West	23,300	9.8%	23,600	9.3%	-300	-1.3%
West Midlands	29,300	12.3%	32,700	12.9%	-3,400	-10.3%
Yorkshire and The Humber	28,100	11.8%	28,200	11.1%	-100	-0.5%

The North West had the most new lettings of all English regions in 2022/23

Figure 9: New social lettings by region in 2022/23

4. Vacant properties

How many vacant social housing properties are there?

Of the 34,000 vacant LA-owned dwellings on 31 March 2023, 32,400 (95%) were owned by local authorities in their Housing Revenue Accounts (HRA). Of the HRA vacant dwellings, 45% were available for letting, while 36% were temporarily unavailable to let and 19% were permanently unavailable to let (if for example, they were due to be sold or demolished after 31 March 2023). The percentage of vacant dwellings available for letting has varied between 45% and 50% since 2013^{[footnote 3]}.

Figure 10: Vacant dwellings owned by local authorities’ Housing Revenue Accounts by type of availability and number of bedrooms, 31 March 2023

Local authorities’ HRA vacant dwellings which were available to let had fewer bedrooms on average than those temporarily and permanently unavailable for letting. 50% of vacant dwellings available for letting had 1 bedroom, whereas 48% and 45% of dwellings that were permanently and temporarily unavailable (respectively) had 1 bedroom. These data were collected for the first time in 2022-23.

There were 53,000 vacant PRP-owned dwellings as at 31 March 2023, of which 36,000 were General Needs and 17,000 were Supported Housing. This was a 6% increase on the previous year (50,000), continuing the steady increase seen in previous years^{[footnote 4]}. Vacant General Needs properties increased by 12% whereas Supported Housing decreased by 4%. Of the 36,000 General Needs vacant properties, 17,000 were available for letting.

How long are social housing properties vacant?

The median number of days an existing social property was vacant before being relet as social housing was 30 days in 2022/23, which is 2 days longer than in 2021/22.

The average number of vacant days had been consistent at 20 days from 2015/16 to 2019/20, however during Covid-19 it rose to 28 and has increased further since.

Median vacant days have risen in 2022/23 and are still higher than pre- Covid-19 levels

Figure 11: Median vacant days of new social lettings, 2007/08-2022/23

Supported Housing properties were vacant for 18 days on average before being let, compared to 34 days for General Needs properties. This suggests a higher level of demand for Supported Housing or a lower level of supply. Supported Housing, by definition, requires special adaptations or provision of services to meet a tenant’s needs so Supported Housing and General Needs stock are not always interchangeable.

Local authority properties were vacant for longer before a new let on average than for PRPs in 2022/23

Figure 12: Median vacant days of new social lettings by letting type, 2022/23

Does the location of a property affect how long it is vacant for?

The median number of days an existing social property was vacant before being relet as social housing varied depending on needs type and region.

For General Needs lettings, London was the region with the highest number of vacant days at 49, compared to 21 days in the North West.

For Supported Housing lettings, the West Midlands had the highest average number of vacant days at 24, compared to 11 days in the North West.

Table 5: Median vacant days by region 2022/23

Region Name	General Needs	Supported Housing
East Midlands	37	14
East of England	37	23
London	49	23
North East	31	15
North West	21	11
South East	35	23
South West	34	15
West Midlands	37	24
Yorkshire and The Humber	39	13

Does the size of a property affect how long it is vacant for?

For new General Needs social lettings in 2022/23 there was no clear connection between the size of a property and how long it was vacant prior to the letting. One and four bedroom General Needs properties were vacant for 36 days while two and three bedroom properties were vacant for 34 days.

The number of bedrooms in properties being let as Supported Housing is not captured in CORE so a comparison is not available for Supported Housing.

Why were social housing properties vacant before being let?

13% of new lets in 2022/23 were in properties that were let for the first time as social housing. The majority of these are new builds (11.5%) with the remainder being made up of new leases (0.5%) and conversions, acquisitions and rehabilitations (0.8%).

The remaining 87% were relets of existing social housing stock.

One in ten new lettings were of properties let for the first time as social housing from 2007/08 to 2022/23

Figure 13: Breakdown of new lettings by whether they were a first let or relet, 2007/08-2022/23

First let or relet differs considerably by rent type. Over half (51%) of new lettings in Affordable Rent properties were first lets, compared to 38% of new Intermediate Rent lets, while only 5% of new Social Rent lets were first lets.

The difference between rent types is likely due to the fact that Affordable and Intermediate Rents were only introduced within the last decade whereas Social Rent is much older. This means that the majority (86%)^{[footnote 5]} of existing stock held by LAs and PRPs is socially rented.

The most common reason for a property to be vacant before a relet of any rent type was the previous tenant moving to the private sector or other accommodation (65% of new Intermediate Rent lettings, 37% for Affordable Rent and 31% for Social Rent).

Ten times more new Affordable were first lets of the property than for Social Rent

Figure 14: Breakdown of vacancy reason by rent type, 2022/23

5. Tenancy types of new lettings

5.1 Tenancy type and length

There are three categories of social housing tenancy type: fixed term, lifetime and licence agreements. Each differ in length and level of security; some are more appropriate of particular types of tenants.

Definition: Tenancy types

Fixed term	Fixed term tenancies are tenancies of a set length, provided by both LAs (secure flexible) and PRPs (assured shorthold). For General Needs, the minimum length is five years (though may be shorter in exceptional circumstances) and the maximum length is 20 years.
Lifetime	These are tenancies given for the lifetime of the tenant and are provided by both LAs (secure) and PRPs (assured).
Licence agreement	These are provided by both LAs and PRPs and are not a formal tenancy. They have no set length or end date and are mainly used for Supported Housing.

How many new fixed and lifetime tenancies were there in 2022/23?

The majority (78%) of new social housing tenancies in 2022/23 were lifetime (197,000 tenancies) whilst 10% had a fixed end date (24,000 tenancies). General Needs tenancies of less than two years are not collected in CORE as these are deemed “temporary”, thereby reducing the proportion of tenancies of fixed length when compared to Supported Housing.

Lifetime tenancies were split into Assured lifetime tenancies (51% of all new lets, or 129,000 lets) which were mainly let by PRPs, and Secure lifetime tenancies (27% of all new lets, or 68,000 lets) which were mainly let by LAs. In addition to this a further 10% (24,000 lets) were licence agreements which have no fixed end date, almost all of which are used for Supported Housing to allow flexibility if tenants’ support needs change.

Which provider types were most likely to give a lifetime tenancy?

Local authorities were more likely to provide their tenant with a lifetime tenancy than PRPs. Almost all (91%) new LA lets were lifetime tenancies, and just 7% were fixed term. This compares to 73% of new PRP lets being lifetime and 11% being fixed term.

However, PRPs provided the highest number of lifetime tenancies as their share of the sector is overall much larger. PRPs provided 132,000 new lifetime social lettings; LAs provided 66,000. PRPs provided almost all (96%) of the 23,000 new licence agreements in 2022/23.

91% new social lettings by LAs were lifetime compared to 74% of new lettings by PRPs

Figure 15: Tenancy type by provider type, 2022/23

How has the use of lifetime and fixed term tenancies changed over time?

PRPs increased their use of lifetime tenancies in 2022/23, with lifetime tenancies rising from 71% of new PRP lets in 2021/22 to 73% in 2022/23.

However for LAs the proportion of lifetime tenancies decreased slightly from 95% in 2021/22 to 91% in 2022/23.

The Localism Act 2011 enabled social housing providers to offer fixed term tenancies. However, the use of fixed term tenancies varies between PRPs and LAs:

• For PRPs the proportion of fixed term tenancies steadily increased to 25% in 2018/19, then dropped overall to 14% in 2021/22. In 2022/23 they have fallen again to 11%.

• LAs saw a large increase in the proportion of fixed term lettings to 8% in 2014/15, then gradually fell to 3% in 2021/22, however they have now increased up to 7% in 2022/23.

Since 2012/13 lifetime tenancies have made up the majority of new social lettings for both LAs and PRPs

Figure 16: Percentage of new social lettings by tenancy type and provider type, 2012/23-2022/23

Are there differences between General Needs and Supported Housing?

Use of fixed term tenancies is similar across the needs types - they accounted for 9% of new General Needs lettings in 2022/23, compared to 11% for Supported Housing. This gap has been narrowing through recent years.

Use of licence agreements varies considerably - they are almost zero (0.3% of lettings) for General Needs lettings, whereas they account for 37% of Supported Housing tenancies. This is because licence agreements are mainly used to provide short term help to those in crisis, for example rough sleepers or those fleeing domestic abuse, and Supported Housing is most commonly used for these households.

The proportion of lifetime tenancies for both General Needs and Supported Housing has been increasing since 2018/19

Figure 17: Percentage of new social lettings by tenancy type and needs type, 2007/08-2022/23

How long are fixed term tenancies?

There were 3,500 Supported Housing tenancies (51% of the fixed term lettings) that had a length of less than two years. The only General Needs tenancies of less than two years that are collected in CORE are for Intermediate Rent tenancies where it is possible to have an initial 6 month period that then rolls forward. All Social and Affordable Rent General Needs tenancies of less than two years are deemed temporary and not collected in CORE.

When considering only fixed term tenancies of two years or more to ensure like-for-like comparison, Supported Housing tenancies were much more likely to be shorter. Only 18% of General Needs tenancies were 2-4 years compared to 63% for Supported Housing, whilst 71% of General Needs tenancies were for 5-9 years compared to just 30% for Supported Housing.

The majority of new fixed term lettings were for less than 2 years for Supported Housing and 5-9 years for General Needs

Figure 18: Percentage of fixed term new social lettings by tenancy length and needs type, 2022/23

The minimum length of a General Needs fixed term tenancy is set at 5 years, but under exceptional circumstances shorter tenancies may be provided. Supported Housing is more likely to have tenants with the exceptional circumstances to meet the condition, which could explain these differences.

How common are joint tenancies?

A joint tenancy is a tenancy agreement where two or more people are named on the tenancy agreement. From 2022/23, whether a new social letting was a joint tenancy is now captured in CORE.

In 2022/23 there were 244,000 new lettings where the joint tenancy status is known, 14% of which were joint tenancies.

72% of couples living together in a letting had a joint tenancy whereas, only 1% of lettings not housing a couple had a joint tenancy.

General Needs lettings were over twice as likely to give joint tenancies than Supported Housing lettings, with 16% of General Needs being joint tenancies and only 6% for Supported Housing. This could be because 20% of General Needs lettings had a couple as tenants whereas Supported Housing only had 6% of lettings with a couple.

When focusing on lettings to couples, the percentage of joint tenancies in Supported Housing was higher than in General Needs, with 83% and 73% of joint tenancies respectively. For multiple-person households (excluding households with couples) one quarter (25%) of Supported Housing are joint tenancies - this is significantly higher than the 4% of joint tenancies in General Needs.

For households with couples, 82% of Intermediate Rent were joint tenancies compared to 76% Affordable Rent and 73% Social Rent. For multiple-person households (excluding couple households), one quarter (25%) of Intermediate Rent were joint tenancies compared to 4% Affordable Rent and 6% Social Rent.

Among all the main reasons the households left their last settled home, the property being unsuitable because of overcrowding resulted in the largest percentage of joint tenancies (27%).

Tied housing or renting with a job was the housing situation immediately before the new lettings which resulted in the largest percentage of joint tenancies (29%), followed by mobile home or caravan resulting in 26% of joint tenancies.

6. Size and features of new lettings

How many bedrooms are in newly let social properties?

38% of new General Needs lettings in 2022/23 were in properties that had one bedroom (this includes bedsits), 41% had two bedrooms, 19% had three bedrooms and 2% had four or more bedrooms.

For Supported Housing lettings the number of bedrooms is not collected so no equivalent comments can be made.

Using the 2021 Census data, new General Needs social housing lettings in 2022/23 were smaller than the average household space^{[footnote 6]}. Only 21% of newly let General Needs properties had 3 or more bedrooms, compared to 61% of all housing in England and Wales.

Table 5: Comparison of size of newly let General Needs social properties in England and average household space in England and Wales

Number of Bedrooms	2022/23 percentage of total new social lettings	Average for household spaces in England and Wales
1 Bedroom	38%	11%
2 Bedrooms	41%	27%
3 Bedrooms	19%	40%
4+ Bedrooms	2%	21%

The number of bedrooms in properties used in new lettings has remained fairly consistent in recent years

Figure 19: New General Needs social lettings by number of bedrooms, 2007/08 - 2022/23

Are newly let social housing properties accessible?

6% of new General Needs lettings in 2022/23 (11,000 new lets) were in properties built or adapted to wheelchair user standards (M4(3) of the 2010 building regulations^{[footnote 7]}).

The percentage of new General Needs lets in LA owned properties built or adapted to wheelchair user standards increased from 2% in 2007/08 to 6% in 2021/22, falling slightly to 5% in 2022/23. For Private Registered Providers it rose from 4% to 6% over the same period.

The percentage of new General Needs social lettings in properties that have been built or adapted to wheelchair standards has steadily increased since 2007/08

Figure 20: Percentage of new General Needs lettings built or adapted to wheelchair standards by provider type, 2007/08 - 2022/23

For Supported Housing lettings information is provided on whether a property has been designed or adapted to either the accessible general standard or wheelchair user standard combined (M4(2) and M4(3) of the 2010 building regulations^{[footnote 7]}). 61% of new Supported Housing lettings in 2022/23 (39,000 new lets) were in properties built or adapted to wheelchair user or the accessible general standards. This is the highest this proportion has been since 2008/09.

The proportion of new Supported Housing lettings built or adapted to wheelchair user or the accessible general standards varies by provider type. In 2022/23 68% of local authority lettings were built or adapted to the standards compared to 60% for Private Registered Providers.

A higher proportion of Supported Housing properties meet wheelchair accessible standards, compared to General Needs. By definition, Supported Housing intended for tenants who need extra support, which includes those with mobility or other health issues that result in them needing wheelchair-accessible housing.

7. Rents of new lettings

How expensive is social housing?

The median rent for new social housing tenancies in England in 2022/23 was £93 per week, rising slightly from £89 the previous year.

Rents in London were £127 per week, nearly a quarter (27%) higher than the English average of £93 per week. However rents in London provided a greater saving compared to market rents, which is what the household would be paying if they were renting in the private sector^{[footnote 8]}. Rents for new lets in London were 37% of market rent, compared to 49% for the whole of England.

Meanwhile the median rent in Yorkshire and the Humber of £81 per week was the lowest of the English regions and was 15% lower than for the whole of England.

There was substantial regional difference between median weekly rent for new social lettings and market rent in 2022/23

Figure 21: Median weekly rents by region and rent type (£), 2022/23

What effect does the rent type have on rent levels?

The amount of rent charged varies depending on rent type. Affordable Rents and Intermediate Rents by definition are set at up to 80% of market rent, whilst social rents are set via a national formula and are typically lower than Affordable Rents.

The median weekly Social Rent for a new let in England in 2022/23 was £89 per week, 47% of market rent^{[footnote 8]}. The year before, the median Social Rent was almost the same amount (£85 per week) but this was 46% of market rent. This shows that rents in the private sector increased faster than in the social sector.

In 2022/23 the median Affordable Rent was £134 per week, 71% of market rent, compared to £127 in 2021/22 (69% of market rent).

For Intermediate Rent it was £175 per week in 2022/23, 92% of market rent. This is an increase from the £147 per week in 2021/22 (80% of market rent).

Do rent levels vary by needs type?

The median weekly rent for new Social Rent Supported Housing lets was £92 in 2022/23 and £88 for new Social Rent General Needs lets. For new Affordable Rent lets, General Needs lets were more expensive with median weekly rents of £135 compared to £123 for Supported Housing. The pattern is similar for Intermediate Rent, where the median weekly rent for new General Needs lettings is £170 compared to £526 for new Supported Housing lettings.

Care should be taken with the Intermediate Rent comparison as there were only 141 Intermediate Rent Supported Housing lettings in 2022/23.

As the number of bedrooms is not collected for Supported Housing it is not possible to compare rents of similar sized properties, however based on the number of people in the household it is likely that Supported Housing properties are smaller on average. For Supported Housing lets that have more specialised services to cater for the needs of the tenants living in the property the costs of these services may be passed on to tenants via higher rents.

What other charges do tenants face?

As well as basic rent a household may be expected to pay a range of other charges as part of their tenancy agreement, in CORE these are broken down as follows:

Definition: Additional charges

Service charge	Charges for additional services that are eligible for housing benefit or Universal Credit. Examples include cleaning and furniture usage.
Personal service charge	Charges not eligible for housing benefit or Universal Credit. Examples include heating and water usage.
Support charge	Charges for housing related support that enables a person to live independently. Examples include development of living skills and enabling access to education or employment.

In 2022/23 half (50%) of new General Needs lettings had a service charge, for these lettings the average weekly amount was £6. Two thirds (69%) of new Supported Housing lettings had a service charge and in 2022/23 the average weekly amount was £47.

Personal service charges were present in 7% of new General Needs lettings and 46% of Supported Housing lettings in 2022/23. They averaged £5 and £13 respectively.

Additionally, support charges were present in 3% of new General Needs lettings and 31% of Supported Housing lettings in 2022/23. They averaged £5 and £6 respectively.

Considering all these charges together, 53% of new General Needs lettings had at least one of the previously mentioned charges. For these lettings, the combined charges averaged £6 a week. Comparatively, 75% of new Supported Housing lettings had at least one additional charge and for those lettings, the combined charges were £57 a week on average.

Considering all new 2022/23 lettings (including the 47% of General Needs and 25% of Supported Housing lettings with £0 of additional charges), new General Needs lettings in 2022/23 had £6.38 of additional weekly charges on average whilst Supported Housing had £57. Combining this with rent gives an average cost of £99 for new General Needs lettings in 2022/23 and £160 for Supported Housing.

How have rents changed over time?

Between 2007/08 and 2013/14 median weekly rent for new Social Rent lets increased steadily from £59 to £79. They have increased more slowly since then, reaching £89 per week in 2022/23.

The Affordable Rent programme was launched in 2012/13 and, with the exception of a brief fall in 2016/17, has seen a steady rise in rents from £105 per week in 2012/23 to £134 per week in 2022/23.

In 2017/18 Rent to Buy lettings were added to CORE as a separate category. Median weekly rent dropped from £112 in 2017/18 to £84 in the following year. The scale of this drop is likely due to the small numbers of lettings in 2018/19 which meant a small number of cheaper lettings had a large effect on the median. Following this drop weekly rents have increased to their current median values of £175. From 2021/22 Rent to Buy was expanded in CORE to include other intermediate rent products and is now referred to as Intermediate Rent.

Using median weekly rent values for private renters from the English Housing Survey^{[footnote 9]} over the period that each rent type has existed we see that:

• New Social Rent lettings median weekly rent increased by 41% whereas rent increased by 33% for private renters (2007/08 to 2022/23)

• New Affordable Rent lettings median weekly rent increased by 28% whereas rent increased by 25% for private renters (2012/13 to 2022/23)

• New Intermediate Rent lettings median weekly rent increased by 56% whereas rent increased by 8% for private renters (2017/18 to 2022/23)

Rents for new social lettings have been steadily increasing, but in 2022/23 by less than market rent

Figure 22: Median weekly rents (£) by rent type, 2007/08 - 2022/23

Are tenants in new social lettings paying lower rents than those already living in social housing?

For social lettings provided by local authorities in 2022/23, median weekly rents for new lettings were 12% lower than those paid by existing households in social housing provided by local authorities^{[footnote 9]} (£84 compared to £95).

Similarly, median rents for new PRP lets in 2022/23 were 8% lower than for existing households in PRP lettings^{[footnote 9]} (£98 compared to £106).

This is likely to be because churn – the proportion of social housing stock relet each year – is greater in the north where rents are lower than in London and the South East.

Has the gap between rents for new lettings and those already in social housing widened?

Median weekly rents for new LA-provided lets have remained lower than rents for all LA-provided lets each year since 2008/09. Rents for new lettings and those already in social housing have increased at roughly the same rate. The same is true for PRP-provided lets.

Despite steady increases in weekly rents, new social lettings continue to have lower median weekly rents than existing social lettings

Figure 23: Median weekly rents by provider type and whether the letting is new or existing (£), 2008/09 - 2022/23

Weekly rents for both new social lettings and the social sector as a whole increased from 2007/08 to 2015/16. Between 2015/16 and 2019/20 average rents for new lets flattened, whereas for the sector as a whole, rents slightly fell (3% for PRPs and 2% for LAs). Since 2019/20 median rents for both new lets and the sector as a whole have been increasing overall.

Table 7: Weekly rent comparison between new lets and existing lets 2008/09 and 2022/23

Provider type	New or existing letting?	2008/09 median weekly rent	2022/23 median weekly rent	Percentage change
Local Authority (LA)	New letting	£57	£84	47%
Local Authority (LA)	Existing letting	£64	£95	48%
Private Registered Provider (PRP)	New letting	£67	£98	46%
Private Registered Provider (PRP)	Existing letting	£72	£106	47%

Number of bedrooms and weekly rent

The number of bedrooms in a property has an impact on the median weekly rent. This is illustrated by the chart below, where General Needs properties with one bedroom are by far the cheapest and those with four bedrooms are the most expensive, for both Social Rent and Affordable Rent. Four-bedroom properties were 51% more expensive than one-bedroom properties for Social Rent, 73% more expensive for Affordable Rent and 9% more expensive for Intermediate Rent.

For new Social and Affordable rent social lettings the more bedrooms a property has the higher the weekly rent on average

Figure 24: Median weekly rents (£) for new social lettings by number of bedrooms, 2008/09 - 2022/23

Intermediate Rent rents are not included in figure 24 are not included due to the small numbers of lettings within each bedroom category.

Data on the number of bedrooms of Supported Housing properties is not collected so a similar comparison cannot be made for these lettings.

8. Is there a link between new lettings and stock?

The number of new lettings varies across the country and is linked to the availability of stock available to let. This stock includes existing social stock that has become vacant, plus properties available for their first social let this year such as new builds, acquisitions, and rehabilitations.

Figure 25 shows total lettings as a percentage of total stock by local authority area. This illustrates that generally a higher proportion of stock was newly let (churn of stock) in northern England than in the south. For example 7.1% of social stock in the North East was relet during 2022/23, compared to 2.3% for London.

Tenants in Local Authority and Private Registered Provider lettings had lived at their current address for an average of 13.4 years and 11.4 years, respectively in 2022/23. This is considerably longer than the average of 4.4 years in the private rental sector^{[footnote 10]}.

Social housing churn is higher in the north of England than the south

Figure 25: Social housing stock churn by region, 2022/23

Why is there a difference in social stock churn across the country?

One possible explanation for this higher turnover in the North and Midlands is affordability, as seen in figure 26 below. We can see a widening affordability gap between the social and private rental sectors, especially in London and the South East, which may discourage existing social tenants from moving into private accommodation, which would reduce turnover in these areas.

For example, the median weekly private sector rent in London was £346 per week in 2022/23^{[footnote 8]}, while in the North East it was £127 (England average was £190). The proportion of social housing stock relet in London during the year was 2.3%, compared to 7.1% in the North East.

Local authorities with a higher rate of stock churn have social rents closer to market rents

Figure 26: Average rent for new social lets as a proportion of market rent by local authority area, 2022/23

9. Footnotes

1. English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023, Section 1: household annex tables AT1_1. ↩

2. Policy statement on rents for social housing. ↩

3. LAHS live table 612. ↩

4. Private registered provider social housing stock and rents in England, 2022 to 2023. ↩

5. Registered provider social housing stock and rents in England 2022 to 2023,Registered providers additional tables, Table 1.1 . ↩

6. ONS 2021 Census data on numbers of bedrooms in household spaces for England and Wales. ↩

7. Access to and use of buildings: Approved Document M. ↩ ↩²

8. Private rental market summary statistics in England, 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 edition, Table 2.7. ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023, Section 1: household annex tables AT2_4. ↩ ↩² ↩³

10. English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023, Section 1: household annex tables AT3_6. ↩