Owner occupation remained the largest tenure group in England (65% of households), followed by the private rented sector (19%), with the social rented sector being the smallest (16%).
While the overall proportion of owner occupiers remains similar to a decade ago, the proportion of outright owners is significantly higher. Since 2014-15, there have been a higher proportion of outright owners compared to mortgagors. In 2024-25, there were 36% of households who owned their homes outright (33% in 2014-15), while 29% were mortgagors (30% in 2014-15).
The size of the private rented sector has generally remained stable across all regions. In London, there was no statistically significant change in the number of private rented sector dwellings, though the proportion of households in London who privately rent decreased from 32% in 2023-24 to 28% in 2024-25.
The proportion of private renters is affected by both the size of the owner occupied and social rented sectors, so small increases in the relative size of the other two tenures could impact the proportion of private renters.
The private and social rented sectors were more nationally diverse tenures. The majority of owner occupiers (95%) had HRPs from the UK or Republic of Ireland (ROI), compared with 88% of social renters and 68% of private renters.
In 2024-25, 50% of social renters were in the lowest income quintile and 25% in the second lowest, while mortgagors were concentrated in the two highest income quintiles (40% were in the top income quintile and 29% in the second highest). Private renters (along with outright owners) were more evenly spread across the quintiles.
Mean weekly mortgage payments in 2024-25 were higher in London (£375) than in the rest of England (£220). Mean mortgage for both areas has increased compared to five years ago (2019-20), from £263 and £170 respectively.
Over the same period, the average (mean) weekly rental costs for private and social renters also increased, to £393 in London and £207 in the rest of England for private renters; and £171 in London and to £119 in the rest of England for social renters.
In 2024, there were 1.2 million vacant dwellings, making up 5% of the dwellings in England (3% of owner occupied, 11% of private rented and 4% of social rented dwellings were vacant at the time of survey). Within the private rented and social rented sectors, the most common reason for vacancy was awaiting another tenant or owner (8% and 3% of all dwellings respectively) compared with 1% in the owner occupied vacant dwellings.
In 2024-25, owner occupiers were more likely to report being satisfied with their accommodation (94%) than private renters (81%). The lowest levels of satisfaction were in social rented households (75%). Satisfaction has fallen across all tenures since 2019-20.
