The latest English Housing Survey for 2023–24, published today by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, offers a detailed snapshot of the housing crisis in England.
It reveals worsening affordability for private renters, stagnation in access to social housing, and growing difficulties for younger adults hoping to get on the property ladder.
According to the survey, private renters spent an average of 34% of their income on housing costs in 2023–24, compared with 26% for social renters and 19% for mortgagors. Renters in the lowest income quintile were disproportionately affected, with the poorest private renters spending 63% of their income on rent—up from 56% in 2019–20.
Affordability challenges were particularly acute in London. There, private renters spent 46% of their income on housing, while nearly half (44%) reported difficulty affording rent. Across all tenures, 71% of low-income private renters spent more than 30% of their income on rent.
Access to ownership remains restricted despite a growing number of first-time buyers, which rose from 827,000 in 2019–20 to 975,000 in 2023–24. The average age of first-time buyers remained stable, with 60% aged 25–34. However, only 15% of first-time purchases took place in London, compared with 25% a decade ago. Most buyers continue to rely on savings (86%) to fund deposits, while nearly a third (31%) received help from family or friends.
The survey also recorded 1.5 million ‘concealed households’ – adults unable to afford a home of their own – making up 6% of all households. Over half of these individuals were aged 16 to 24 and most lived with parents. The prevalence of concealed households was highest in London and among higher-income households, suggesting both economic and cultural factors at play.
In the social housing sector, just 3% of households reported being on a housing waiting list, a figure that has remained unchanged over the past decade. Those most likely to seek social housing were lone women aged 45–64 with low incomes and no dependent children.
Despite rising housing costs, the number of households with savings has grown. In 2023–24, 79% of owner occupiers reported having savings, compared to 52% of private renters and 28% of social renters. A third of owner occupiers had savings over £50,000, whereas most social renters held less than £5,000.
The report also highlights shifting expectations around ownership. While 57% of private renters expect to buy in future, just 25% of social renters do. The likelihood of aspiring to buy was far lower for renters on low incomes or in lone female households.
Thomas Lambert, financial planner at Quilter, said: “The English Housing Survey 2023 to 2024 published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government this morning demonstrates just how many private renters are caught in a state of flux. Private renters not only spend the highest proportion of their income on housing, coming in at just over a third (34%), but they are also the most likely to struggle to afford their housing costs (32%) and just half (52%) have savings behind them. Those having difficulty paying rent rose considerably from 27% in 2019–20 to 32% in 2023–24, which followed the sharp rise in rent costs seen during the cost of living crisis and mortgage market turmoil.
“Most commonly (32%), private renters had savings of between £5,000 and £15,999. This is unsurprising given the significant proportion of their income that goes on housing costs alone, but it is a clear representation of the struggle that many private renters who are keen to purchase their own home face. With the average first-time buyer house price now at £227,114, and the average first-time buyer deposit around 20% of the property price, many private renters will be stuck in a cycle of having high housing costs and not enough left over to help them build a suitable deposit. What’s more, with rumours that Labour MPs are putting pressure on the Chancellor to look at a potential tax on rental income, this could see rent costs spike further.
“Comparatively, owner occupiers spend an average of 19% of their income on housing costs, 79% have savings, and 33% of them have savings of more than £50,000. Mortgagors were also the least likely to report difficulty affording their housing costs, at just 14%. Naturally, the age differences between these cohorts will have some bearing, but it paints a clear picture of the difference in financial security across the groups and the need for the Government to support younger people in getting on the housing ladder.
“Many people aspiring to buy or rent a home of their own but who cannot afford to, dubbed ‘concealed households’, are reliant on living with parents, with 85% of those who cannot afford to rent or buy on their own being the child of the owner or renter. There are 410,000 of these households across England where there are also dependent children living, representing 6% of all households, and over a third of other multi-person households (35%) contained someone who could not afford to rent or buy on their own.
“Today’s report lays bare just how many people are stuck wanting to take their first step onto the property ladder but are faced with high housing costs and a subsequent inability to save. Affordability remains a fundamental constraint, with high house prices, elevated monthly repayments and the need to build a suitable deposit all while needing to maintain current housing commitments. The changes to stamp duty have compounded this further, and first-time buyers now face even greater hurdles.
“While the outlook for borrowing costs has improved following the Bank of England’s decision to cut rates further to 4.25%, even with the lower mortgage rates that have followed, a combination of overall affordability constraints coupled with a dearth of supply will see prospective buyers still struggling to take that first step unless greater support is offered.”
