Has Southampton experienced a growth in Home Ownership?

The English Housing Survey is a national survey of people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. In its current form, it was first run in 2008-09. Prior to then, the survey was run as two standalone surveys: the English House Condition Survey and the Survey of English Housing. This report provides the findings from the 2014-15 survey which was released recently and its main findings are:

After a period of recent decline, the fall in owner occupation appears to have abated.

· Of the estimated 22.5 million households in England in 2014-15, 14.3 million or 64% were owner occupiers. The proportion of all households in owner occupation increased steadily from the 1980s to 2003 when it reached a peak of 71%. A period of gradual decline in owner occupation followed but this seems to have abated with no change in owner occupation rates between 2013-14 and 2014-15. 

Among owner occupiers, the proportion of households who owned outright remained larger than the proportion buying with a mortgage, although not in London.

· In 2014-15, there were more outright owners (33%) than ‘mortgagors’ (30%), a continuation of the trend first identified in 2013-14. This was not the case in London where there were more mortgagors (27%) than outright owners (23%), most likely as a result of the younger age profile of the population in London. 

The private rented sector remained larger than the social rented sector.

· In 2014-15, 19% (4.3 million) of households were renting privately, while 17% (3.9 million) of households lived in the social rented sector. There was no change in the size of either sector between 2013-14 and 2014-15. 

There has been an increase in the number of families with dependent children in the private rented sector.

· Over the last 10 years, the proportion of households in the private rented sector with dependent children increased from 30% in 2004-05 to 37% in 2014-15. With considerable growth in the overall number of private renters over this period, this seven percentage point increase equates to about 912,000 more households with children in the private rented sector.

Over the last decade the average age of first time buyers increased.

· In 2014-15, the average age of first time buyers was 33, up from 31 in 2004-05. 

Younger people (aged 25-34) are more likely to rent privately than to be buying with a mortgage.

· Over the last 10 years there has been a significant increase in the proportion of younger households in the private rented sector. In 2004-05, 24% of those aged 25-34 lived in the private rented sector. By 2014-15 this had increased to 46%. Over the same period, the proportion of 25-34 year olds buying with a mortgage decreased from 54% to 34%. In other words, younger households aged 25-34 are more likely to be renting privately than buying their own home, a continuation of a trend first identified in 2012-13. Over the same 10-year period, rates of younger households in the social rented sector remained stable. 

The proportion of private renters who expect to buy has declined. No such decline was observed among social renters.

· In 2014-15, 57% of private renters and 24% of social renters stated that they expected to buy a property at some point in the future.

· Between 2013-14 and 2014-15, there was a decline in the proportion of private renters who expected to buy (from 61% to 57%). There was no such decline in the proportion of social renters who expected to buy. 

The proportion of social renters who expect to buy their current home has increased.

· Among social renters who expected to buy, half (52%) of local authority tenants and a third (35%) of housing association tenants expected to buy their current home.

· The overall proportion of social tenants who expected to buy their current home increased from 35% in 2010-11 to 42% in 2014-15. This may, in part be explained by the reinvigoration of the Right to Buy scheme which allows local authority tenants to buy their home at a discount. As the Right to Buy scheme is extended to include housing association tenants we may expect to see a further increase in the overall proportion of social tenants who expect to buy their current home in future waves of the English Housing Survey. 

While social rents increased between 2013-14 and 2014-15, private rents remained stable. Although this was not the case in London.

· In 2014-15, the average (mean) rent (excluding services but including Housing Benefit) for households in the social sector was £99 compared with £179 per week in the private rented sector.

· For social renters, average rents increased between 2013-14 and 2014- 15, from £94 to £99. Average private rents were unchanged.

· While private rents did not increase between 2013-14 and 2014-15 at the national level, in London there was a £17 per week increase, from an average of £281 per week to £298 per week. 4 | English Housing Survey Headline Report 2014-15 

The proportion of working private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit increased.

· Between 2013-14 and 2014-15, the proportion of non-working private renters on Housing Benefit declined from 57% to 49% while the proportion of private renters in work and on Housing Benefit increased from 14% to 18%. No such pattern was observed among social renters.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/501065/EHS_Headline_report_2014-15.pdf