editor posted on August 09, 2011 03:32
Published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), the survey shows that out of the 21.6 million households in England in 2009-10, a further 17 per cent were social housing renters, and 16per cent were private renters.
The average weekly rent in 2009-10 was £156 for private renters,compared with £75 for social renters.
A third (33 per cent)of private renters had lived in their home for less than a year, compared to 2 per cent of owner-occupiers and 8 percent of social renters.
An estimated 630,000 households (2.9 per cent) were overcrowded, with over a third of these households (237,000) living in London (7.8 percent of London households). Some 7.9 million households (37 per centof all) were under-occupying their accommodation.
Only 4 per cent of owner occupiers were recent first time buyers (bought within the previous three years), with the majority of these (61 percent) being aged between 25 and 34.
Over two-thirds (68 per cent) of new households formed in 2008-09 and2009-10
Energy efficiency of housing stock
The survey also found that 8.8 million (38 per cent) of the 22.3 million dwellings in England in 2009 were built before 1945, and 4.8 million(21 per cent) before 1919.
The energy efficiency (SAP) rating of the housing stock steadily improved from a mean of 42 SAP points in 1996 to 53 in 2009. Improvement was particularly marked in local authority and private rented housing.
However,in 2009 there were still 3.3 million dwellings in the lowest Energy Efficiency Rating Bands F and G.
If cost effective energy improvements (averaging around £1,400 per dwelling) were carried out to all 19.3 million properties that would benefit from them, the average SAP rating would increase from 53 to63 and the average CO2 emissions per dwelling could be reduced from 6.0 to 4.6 tonnes/year.
There has only been a modest improvement in the proportion of the stock with problems of damp (from 10 per cent to 8 per cent), primarily because the incidence of serious condensation and mould (one cause of damp) has not changed from 4 per cent of all dwellings.
Electrical safety has improved significantly since 2001 - especially for rented dwellings in both the private and social sectors.
There has been a significant reduction in the amount of disrepair since2001 - particularly in private rented housing although this sector still had on average much higher average repair costs than other tenures in 2009.
RobWellstead, Managing Director at Lenwell said: “Whilst the dataii in this report is historic it does clearly indicate a trend away from owner occupation towards the private rental sector as well as providing a lot of other interesting housing data.
The reasons for this change in occupancy tenure are many and various but include a restricted lending environment that has made it harder for people to get onto or sty on the home ownership ladder. This has created a growing number of “reluctant” tenants and “reluctant” landlords. This trend is likely to continue in the immediate future until the general economic picture improves.
Of course, property in the private rental sector is, by definition,owned by a private landlord and so there remains an active, albeit subdued, sales market alongside a buoyant rental one.”