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Overcrowding and under-occupancy - ONS

ended 25. August 2023

This morning, the Office for National Statistics published a report entitled Overcrowding and under-occupancy by household characteristics, England and Wales: 2021.

It found that, in 2021, the majority of households in England and in Wales had more bedrooms than required according to the Bedroom Standard, and therefore were living in under-occupied accommodation (68.8% in England, 76.3% in Wales). 

Free UK news agency, Newspage, sought the views of property experts, which can be found below. Other key findings as follows:

  • Households living in rented accommodation were more likely to be overcrowded in England (8.5%) and in Wales (4.3%), compared with owner-occupied accommodation (1.9% in England and 1.2% in Wales).
  • Households where all members identified as “Muslim” were more than five times more likely to be in overcrowded accommodation in comparison to all households in England and six times more likely in Wales.
  • Households where all members identified as “Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African” had the highest level of overcrowding (16.1% in England, 11.9% in Wales) compared with all households (4.4% in England and 2.2% in Wales).
  • Households where all members were economically inactive (for example those retired, looking after home or family, or long-term sick or disabled) had the highest proportion of under-occupied accommodation compared with all other employment status combinations.

8 responses from the Newspage community

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Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Until the Government incentivises older generations to downsize by scrapping Stamp Duty for downsizers and finds a way to build more retirement-type homes for an ageing population and more affordable homes for growing families, then I'm afraid the trend seen in this data will continue.
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David Robinson
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
What we are seeing very clearly here is that there is a pool of underutilised housing stock due to empty-nesters not downsizing. In many cultures, you will find multiple generations in one household living together but you also see this due to fiscal necessity. Black followed by Bangladeshi households are, according to the ONS, the poorest on average in the UK so it is no surprise to see that they are also more likely to have more people living in a household. For years there has been a belief that pensioners would downsize in retirement but, as this data shows, this has proven generally not to be the case. This is for a multitude of reasons, from wanting to have spare rooms for family visits to not wanting to leave a home/area with so many memories and not wanting to start again in a new area. This, however, is fueling the shortage of housing stock for young families and keeping prices inflated.
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Clive Read
Owner at Goldmanread
This latest report starkly highlights the structural problems within the UK property market. Traditionally, overcrowding has been related to socio-economic standing. It's probably to be expected that in a housing market where prices have continued to rise and affordability has become more constrained, that people are finding it more and more difficult to find enough space. The link between ethnicity and overcrowding should be deeply troubling for us as a society. I think it's time for the Government to review its provision of Social Housing to ease this national scandal.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Certain cultures appreciate the advantages of multiple generations living under one roof so it's important not to confuse cultural preferences with overcrowding.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Lower value properties tend to be overcrowded because those on lower incomes reside there. Socio-demographics have changed as the population has got wealthier. Older people, who have raised a family, don't sell and downsize becuase they don't need to. Families change, people get divorced, and widowed, and we have an aging population who live with these changes in circumstances for longer. This report highlights an issue, but the solution is more nuanced. The government should be laser-focused on building more housing at the affordable end of the market. Instead, they have abandoned the sector entirely, scrapping targets because they knew they wouldn't meet them and not replacing incentive schemes to help first-time buyers.
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Bob Singh
Founder at Chess Mortgages
No surprises here. With the majority of housing stock being 2/3 bedrooms, and prices where they are today coupled with cultural differences it’s no wonder more and more people are living as larger units. The report could have gone further and specified if this happens more at the lower income levels within a community. Coming from a large family myself, of 8, we managed in a 3-bed house until we all dispersed. It keeps bills and living costs right down. I wonder if the ONS has stats on mortgage arrears within a particular community. That would make far more interesting reading.
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Joe Stallard
Director and Advisor at House and Holiday Home Mortgages
The Stamp Duty Land Tax system needs to do more to encourage downsizing. The report shows that the highest proportion of under-occupied accommodation is from those likely retired. The current system doesn't incentivise those with large houses whose families have flown the nest to consider downsizing. This would help open up the housing market and create more activity and opportunity.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
I think one of the things that this data highlights is that we have been building, and continue to build, the wrong types of property in the wrong areas. If we want to encourage people to move into appropriately sized properties, we have to give them an attractive and affordable alternative. For example, a couple living in a four-bedroom detached home that they raised their family in are unlikely to want to sell that and move into a two or even three-bed semi; but there are virtually no two or three-bed detached properties that they may be happier to consider, or due to their rarity, those that are on the market are not much lower cost than the four-bed house they are currently in. Likewise, those who need four or five-bedroom homes only have the choice of detached "executive" style homes and for some people, these are then outside of their price range, as there are generally no budget-conscious larger houses being built, leaving very limited existing housing stock of this type.