Scottish household survey 2018: annual report

3 Housing

Main Findings

Note: The total number of households in Scotland has increased by 13 per cent from 2.19 million households in 1999 to 2.48 million households in 2018. Therefore, in some cases, a specific tenure can have reduced in relative proportion over time whilst still increasing in absolute size.

Housing Tenure from 1999 to 2018

The proportion of households in the private rented sector grew steadily from five per cent in 1999 (120,000 households) to 15 per cent in 2016 (370,000 households), an increase of a quarter of a million households. The proportion has since dropped slightly to 14 per cent in the latest year (2018) to stand at 340,000 households, a decrease of 30,000 households since 2016.

The drop in private rented tenure was partly due to a fall in the proportion of households where the highest income householder (HIH) was aged between 16 and 34 and living in the private rented sector, from 41 per cent in 2015 to 36 per cent in 2018. Between 2015 and 2018, there has been a decrease of approximately 20,000 households aged 16-34 who are renting privately, and an increase of approximately 30,000 households aged 16-34 who are owning a property with a mortgage.

The percentage of households in the social rented sector declined from 32 per cent in 1999 to 23 per cent in 2007, an estimated drop of 150,000 households, but has remained between 22 and 24 per cent of all households since then.

The percentage of households in owner occupation grew from 61 per cent in 1999 to 66 per cent in 2005, was stable at around 65 and 66 per cent until 2009 but then declined by an estimated 90,000 households between 2009 and 2014 to 60 per cent. The level has since remained around 61 and 62 per cent. Within this, the steady decline in the proportion of younger households aged between 16 and 34 in owner occupation, which fell from 53% in 2009 to 30% in 2014, has reversed recently, rising to 37 per cent in 2018.

Characteristics of households by tenure, 2018

Owned outright properties (estimated 810,000 households and 1,520,000 people):

• Most properties were houses (82 per cent).
• Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) had a HIH who was aged 60 or over.
• Over half (51 per cent) contained adults who had lived at their address for more than 20 years.
• Over eight in 10 (82 per cent) contained adults who did not expect to move from their current property in the future.

Owned with a mortgage or loan (estimated 720,000 households and 1,960,000 people):

• Almost eight in 10 (79 per cent) were houses.
• The majority (92 per cent) had a HIH who was aged under 60.
• Six in 10 (60 per cent) did not contain children.
• Eighty-two per cent of adults were employed, higher than the proportion of employed adults in all other tenures.
• Three-quarters (75 per cent) had a net annual household income of more than £25,000.

Private rented properties (estimated 340,000 households and 690,000 people):

• Sixty-three per cent were flats.
• The majority were located in urban areas (48 per cent in large urban areas and 29 per cent in other urban areas).
• Two thirds of adults had lived at their address for less than two years (67 per cent). The proportion of adults in private rented properties who lived in their current address for less than a year was higher than those in all other tenure types (39 per cent compared to between three and 22 per cent).
• Over six in 10 rented direct from a landlord (62 per cent) as opposed to through a letting agent, falling to almost a half (51 per cent) of households in which the respondent had been living at that address for under a year.
• Almost eight in 10 paid a deposit when they started to rent their property (78 per cent), rising to almost nine in 10 (87 per cent) for households in which the respondent had been living at that address for under a year.

Social rented properties (local authority and housing association properties) (estimated 550,000 households and 1,150,000 people):

• Fifty per cent of local authority and 62 per cent of housing association properties were flats.
• Forty-three per cent of local authority properties and 53 per cent of housing association homes were located in the 20 per cent most deprived areas.
• Six in 10 adults were not in employment (60 per cent for both local authority and housing association properties). The proportion of adults in social rented properties who were permanently sick or disabled was higher than those in all other tenure types (15 per cent of social rented properties compared to between one and five per cent in other tenures), and a further nine per cent were unemployed and seeking work.
• Around half of adults stated that they would prefer to remain in social rented accommodation (53 per cent). Over a third (38 per cent) would most like to live in owner occupier accommodation.

Households on housing lists:

An estimated 130,000 (five per cent) of households were on a housing list in 2018, with a further 10,000 (0.5 per cent) of households estimated to have applied for social housing using a choice based letting system or similar within the last year, figures which are similar to those for the previous year 2017.

Of the households on a housing list in 2018, two thirds (66 per cent) were on a single list and over half (58 per cent) had been on a housing list for three years or less.

For around a third (29 per cent) of social rented households on a housing list, the main reason was to move to a bigger or smaller property. The main reasons for private rented households were that they could not afford current housing / would like cheaper housing (24 per cent of private rented households on a housing list) or to move to a bigger or smaller property (21 per cent). The main reason for owner occupier households to be on a list was to move away from parents / partner (22 per cent).

Private Rented Sector – changes over time between 1999 and 2018:

The growth of the private rented sector between 1999 and 2016 was largely concentrated in urban areas, with the number of households renting privately in urban areas rising from 80,000 in 1999 to 280,000 in 2016. The number of private rented households in urban areas has since dropped by 20,000 to 260,000 in 2018 as the overall size of the sector has decreased.

Between 2016 and 2018 there has been a fall in the proportion of private rented sector households which are comprised of single parent families, from nine per cent in 2016 to five per cent in 2018, a drop of around 10,000 households. There has also been a slight drop in the proportion of private rented sector households which are comprised of large families, from five per cent in 2017 to three per cent in 2018, a drop of approximately 10,000 households.

The overall proportion of private rented sector households with children has dropped from around a quarter (24 per cent) in 2016 to around a fifth (20 per cent) in 2018.

The average length of stay for adults living in private rented households in urban areas has been relatively steady since 1999, with averages of two years being seen for most years, including the latest year 2018.

Satisfaction with housing:

Over nine in 10 households (90 per cent) reported that they were very or fairly satisfied with their housing, with 51 per cent being very satisfied and 39 per cent being fairly satisfied (Figure 3.6). Between 2017 and 2018, there was a slight drop in the percentage of households being either very or fairly satisfied with their housing, from
92 per cent to 90 per cent, with the proportion of households being very satisfied with their housing dropping from 56 per cent in 2017 to 51 per cent in 2018.

3.1 Introduction and Context

The Scottish Government's vision for housing is that ‘All people in Scotland live in high quality sustainable homes that they can afford and that meet their needs’^[32]. While the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS)^[33] is the primary source of information about the physical condition of housing in Scotland, the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) includes many questions on housing which can be used to provide insight into the relationships between living circumstances and the characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of Scottish households.

This chapter presents information on changes to housing tenure in Scotland between 1999 and 2018, along with tenure profiles for 2018 that provide information on characteristics of households by type of tenure.

The SHS has included a question since 2013 on whether a household is on a housing list, and therefore analysis on this is also presented. These estimates provide additional evidence on the proportion and number of households that are on housing lists and complement existing sources, such as the Housing Statistics for Scotland (HSfS) publication^[34] last published on 25 September 2018, which included statistics on the number of households on a local authority or common housing list up to 31 March 2018.

3.2 Housing Tenure

3.2.1 Long-term trends in housing tenure

Note that all figures presented in this section on the proportion of households in different tenures should be considered in the context of changes over time to the total number of dwellings in Scotland. The total number of households in Scotland has increased by 13 per cent from 2.19 million households in 1999 to 2.48 million households in 2018^[35]. This means that in the main findings presented below, a specific tenure can have reduced in relative proportion over time but increased in absolute size.

In the period prior to 1999 – the first year in which the SHS was undertaken – the long-term trend was a marked increase in the proportion of owner-occupier households, which doubled from around 30 per cent in 1969^[36] to 61 per cent in 1998. There were corresponding falls in the shares of the social rented sector, which fell from 50 per cent to 32 per cent, and the private rented sector, which fell from 20 per cent to seven per cent, over this period.

From 1999 onwards, SHS data in Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1 shows that the percentage of households in owner occupation grew from 61 per cent in 1999 to 66 per cent in 2005 (an estimated 12 per cent increase in absolute numbers of households), was stable at around 65 and 66 per cent until 2009 but then declined from 2009 to 60 per cent in 2014 (an estimated six per cent decrease in absolute numbers of households between 2009 and 2014), and has since stayed at around the same level, standing at 62 per cent in 2018 (an estimated five per cent increase in absolute numbers of households between 2014 and 2018). The increase in total numbers of households in Scotland from 1999 to 2018 means that although the share of owner occupiers in 2018 is approximately the same as in 1999, there are more owner occupier households in 2018 in terms of absolute numbers (1.53 million) than there were in 1999 (1.34 million).

The decrease in the share of owner occupier households between 2009 and 2014 was driven by a decline in the percentage of households owning their property with a mortgage or loan, from 36 per cent of all households in 2009 to 30 per cent of all households in 2014, after which the figure has remained at similar levels, standing at 29 per cent in 2018. The proportion of all households owning outright increased steadily from 22 per cent in 1999 to 30 per cent in 2007, a level at which it remained until 2014, after which the level increased to 33 per cent in 2018.

Trends over the medium term have also seen an increase in the proportion of households in the private rented sector, from five per cent in 1999 to 15 per cent in 2016 (an estimated tripling in absolute numbers of households from 120,000 in 1999 to 370,000 in 2016). This proportion has since decreased to 14 per cent in the latest year 2018 (an estimated 340,000 households).

The breakdown of the private rented sector into component parts of households renting from private landlord and households renting from family/friends/employers is available from 2009 onwards. This shows that the increase in the private rented sector between 2009 and 2016 was due to growth in the private landlord element of the sector, which has increased from eight per cent to 13 per cent of all households across this time period. The family/friends/employer part of the sector has remained flat at two per cent of all households for most of these years. The drop in the proportion of households in the private sector between 2016 and 2018 corresponds to a drop in the private landlord part of the sector from 13 per cent to 12 per cent, whilst the family/friends/employer part has remained similar at two per cent across these years

The percentage of households in the social rented sector declined from 32 per cent in 1999 to 23 per cent in 2007 (an estimated drop of 150,000 households), after which the social sector has remained between around 22 and 24 per cent of all households since then. Right to Buy sales have been a key driver for this reduction in social rented stock, with a total of 113,800 sales being made between 1999 and 2007, an annual average of 12,600 homes per year over this period^[37]. The number of Right to Buy sales in the subsequent period between 2008 and 2017 has been lower, with a total of 22,500 sales, equating to an annual average of 2,250 homes per year. In July 2013 the Scottish Government announced that the Right to Buy scheme was to end for all tenants, with Right to Buy sales in Scotland subsequently being closed to all new applicants on 31^st July 2016. The number of Right to Buy sales has correspondingly dropped since the first quarter of 2017, with only 142 local authority Right to Buy applications still pending as at March 2018.

The tenure category of “Other” includes households living rent-free, and this category accounted for one per cent of households surveyed in 2018.

Figure 3.1: Tenure of households by year^[38]
1999-2018 data, Households (minimum base: 10,330)

Table 3.1: Tenure of households by year
Column percentages and estimated household numbers^[39], 1999-2018 data

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Owner Occupier	61	62	64	65	65	64	66	65	66	66	66	65	64	63	61	60	61	61	62	62
Owned outright	22	24	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	31	32	32	33
Buying with help of loan/mortgage	39	38	39	39	39	37	38	37	36	36	36	35	34	32	32	30	30	29	29	29
Social Rent	32	30	28	28	26	27	25	25	23	23	22	23	23	23	23	24	23	23	22	23
Local authority	27	25	23	22	20	19	17	17	16	15	14	14	15	13	14	14	13	13	13	14
Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust	5	5	5	6	6	8	7	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	9	9
Private Rented	5	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	9	9	10	11	11	13	13	14	14	15	15	14
Private landlord	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	9	10	11	11	12	13	13	13	12
Family/Friends/Employer	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Other	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1
All	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	14,680	15,550	15,570	15,070	14,880	15,940	15,400	15,620	13,410	13,810	14,190	14,210	14,360	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530
	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Owner Occupier	1,330,000	1,370,000	1,400,000	1,440,000	1,450,000	1,440,000	1,500,000	1,490,000	1,530,000	1,540,000	1,550,000	1,540,000	1,520,000	1,500,000	1,460,000	1,450,000	1,480,000	1,490,000	1,530,000	1,540,000
Owned outright	480,000	530,000	530,000	550,000	580,000	610,000	640,000	670,000	700,000	700,000	710,000	710,000	710,000	720,000	720,000	720,000	750,000	780,000	790,000	820,000
Buying with help of loan/mortgage	850,000	840,000	860,000	860,000	870,000	830,000	860,000	850,000	830,000	840,000	850,000	830,000	810,000	760,000	770,000	720,000	730,000	710,000	710,000	720,000
Social Rent	700,000	660,000	610,000	620,000	580,000	610,000	570,000	570,000	530,000	540,000	520,000	540,000	550,000	550,000	550,000	580,000	560,000	560,000	540,000	570,000
Local authority	590,000	550,000	500,000	490,000	450,000	430,000	390,000	390,000	370,000	350,000	330,000	330,000	360,000	310,000	340,000	340,000	320,000	320,000	320,000	350,000
Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust	110,000	110,000	110,000	130,000	130,000	180,000	160,000	180,000	190,000	190,000	190,000	210,000	210,000	210,000	220,000	240,000	240,000	240,000	220,000	220,000
Private Rented	110,000	130,000	130,000	130,000	130,000	160,000	180,000	180,000	210,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	260,000	310,000	310,000	340,000	340,000	370,000	370,000	350,000
Private landlord	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	190,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	260,000	290,000	320,000	320,000	320,000	300,000
Family/Friends/Employer	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	50,000	50,000	20,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000
Other	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000
All*	2,186,100	2,203,160	2,194,564	2,211,430	2,230,797	2,251,262	2,274,283	2,295,185	2,318,966	2,337,967	2,351,780	2,364,850	2,376,424	2,386,660	2,400,342	2,416,014	2,429,943	2,446,171	2,462,736	2,477,275

3.2.2 Age group of the highest income householder

Figure 3.2 shows the trends from 1999 to 2018 in the proportions of households split by age group of the highest income householder (HIH). The proportion of households with a HIH aged 16 to 34 years fell from 22 per cent in 1999 to 19 per cent in 2003, and has remained around this level since then, being 20 per cent in 2018. The percentage of households with a highest earner aged 35 to 59 years increased from 45 per cent in 1999 to 48 per cent in 2003, before falling back to 44 per cent in 2018. The proportion of households with a HIH aged 60 and over has risen gradually from 32 per cent in 1999 to 36 per cent in 2018.

These trends reflect changes over time in both the underlying age structure of the population of Scotland as well as differences in household composition. The proportion of adults in the population in Scotland aged 16 to 34 has fallen from 32 per cent in 1999 to 29 per cent in 2018, whilst that of adults aged 60 or over has increased from 26 per cent in 1999 to 30 per cent in 2018^[40]. In terms of household composition, Census data^[41] shows that the percentage of people aged 20 to 34 living with their parents increased by two percentage points between 2001 (24 per cent) and 2011 (26 per cent). The 2018 National Records of Scotland Household Estimates¹¹ illustrate that the number of households in Scotland has been rising faster than the population. People are increasingly living alone or in smaller households, partly because Scotland's population is ageing.

Figure 3.2: Households by age of highest income householder, 1999 to 2018
1999-2018 data, Households (minimum base: 10,330)

The proportion of households with a HIH aged between 16 and 34 years living in the private rented sector increased substantially from 1999 (13 per cent) to 2015 (41 per cent), but has since decreased to 36 per cent in 2018 (Figure 3.3). Correspondingly, the percentage of these households owned with a mortgage fell from 50 per cent in 2003 to 28 per cent in 2014, but has since increased to 34 per cent in 2018.

These changes between 2015 and 2018 equate to a decrease of approximately 20,000 households aged 16 and 34 who are renting privately, and an increase of approximately 30,000 households aged 16 and 34 who are owning with a mortgage.

Figure 3.3: Tenure of households by year (HIH aged 16 to 34)
1999-2018 data, Households (minimum base: 1,640)

Households in which the age of the HIH is between 35 and 59 years (Figure 3.4) have also seen a rise in the percentage renting in the private sector, from four per cent in 1999 to 12 per cent in 2016. This has levelled off since and was 11 per cent in the latest year 2018. The proportion owning with a loan or mortgage correspondingly dropped from 54 per cent in 1999 to 45 per cent in 2016, after which the figures have remained at similar levels.

Figure 3.4: Tenure of households by year (HIH aged 35 to 59)
1999-2018 data, Households (minimum base: 4,640)

Households in which the age of the HIH is 60 years or over have seen a rise in the percentage who own outright, from 46 per cent in 1999 to 66 per cent in 2018 (Figure 3.5). There has been a corresponding drop in the proportion renting a social sector property from 39 per cent in 1999 to 22 per cent in 2012, after which levels have remained at 22 per cent. In addition, between 2012 (nine per cent) and 2018 (seven per cent), there was a drop in households buying with the help of a loan/mortgage. One factor behind the changes seen in the proportions of older households owning outright and living in social rented accommodation between 1999 and 2012 is likely to have been Right to Buy, given that households in this age group are most likely to have been able to benefit from the scheme compared to younger households.

Figure 3.5: Tenure of households by year (HIH aged 60 plus)
1999-2018 data, Households (minimum base: 3,980)

3.3 Characteristics of Households by Tenure, including housing aspirations and housing satisfaction

This section covers characteristics of households by tenure, including various aspects related to housing such as housing aspirations, and satisfaction with housing and the local neighbourhood.

3.3.1 Household Characteristics

Table 3.2 focuses on housing characteristics for the year 2018 such as dwelling type, location (urban/rural and index of multiple deprivation) as well as size of property as measured by the numbers of bedrooms.

Properties owned with a mortgage or loan generally have a similar profile to properties owned outright. Owner occupier properties were much more likely to be houses (81 per cent) than flats (19 per cent). Half (49 per cent) of owner occupier properties were located in the 40 per cent least deprived areas of Scotland, while only 13 per cent were in the 20 per cent most deprived areas. Only four per cent of owner occupier properties had one bedroom, with two thirds (66 per cent) of properties having three or more bedrooms.

In contrast to owner occupier properties, private rented properties were more likely to be flats (63 per cent) than houses (37 per cent), and they were generally much smaller – one quarter (24 per cent) had one bedroom and half (49 per cent) had two bedrooms. Seventy-seven per cent of private rented properties were located in urban areas.

For local authority dwellings there was an equal split between local authority flats and houses (49 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively). Seventy-four per cent of local authority properties were located in the 40 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland, with 43 per cent located in the 20 per cent most deprived areas. Almost half (48 per cent) were located in ‘other’ (i.e. not large) urban areas.

Housing association properties were similar to private rented properties in terms of dwelling type (62 per cent were flats). Seventy-two per cent of housing association properties were located in the 40 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland, with 53 per cent located in the 20 per cent most deprived areas. Housing association properties were more likely to have just one bedroom (31 per cent) than local authority properties (24 per cent), private rented dwellings (24 per cent), and owner occupied properties (four per cent).

Table 3.2: Housing characteristics by tenure
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier				Social Rent
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All	Private Rent	Local authority	Housing association**	All	Other	All
Proportional sizes of sectors	33	29	62	14	14	9	23	1	100
Dwelling type
House	82	79	81	37	49	37	45	67	66
Flat	17	21	19	63	50	62	55	33	33
Other	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	-	0
SIMD 2016
1 - Most Deprived	12	13	13	16	43	53	47	17	21
2	17	17	17	20	31	19	26	16	20
3	21	22	21	22	16	17	16	29	20
4	24	24	24	23	8	7	8	24	20
5 - Least Deprived	26	25	25	19	2	4	3	14	19
Urban / Rural Classification
Large urban areas	30	35	32	48	25	53	36	29	35
Other urban areas	34	36	35	29	48	28	40	23	35
Accessible small towns	10	9	9	6	11	5	9	8	9
Remote small towns	4	3	4	3	4	5	4	7	4
Accessible rural	13	12	13	9	7	5	6	13	11
Remote rural	9	5	7	5	4	4	4	20	6
Number of bedrooms
1 bedroom	4	4	4	24	24	31	27	20	12
2 bedrooms	31	28	30	49	48	43	46	27	36
3 bedrooms	44	39	42	21	25	21	23	33	35
4+ bedrooms	21	28	24	7	4	5	4	19	17
Base	3,860	2,880	6,730	1,250	1,460	970	2,430	120	10,530

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"

Table 3.3 provides information on household characteristics for the year 2018 such as the number of people in the household, type of household composition, and number of cars.

Properties owned outright were more likely to contain older adults compared to other tenures, with 73 per cent having a HIH aged 60 years or more. Households who owned outright also had the largest percentage of two-person households (49 per cent) across all specified tenure types except ‘other’. Only 15 per cent of owned outright households had three or more people living in them. Correspondingly, households in this tenure were much more likely than other specified tenures to be older one-person (26 per cent) or older two-person (33 per cent) households. Eighty-one per cent of households owning outright had at least one car. Almost three quarters (74 per cent) of owned outright households stated that they were managing very well or quite well financially, a figure higher than other tenures.

Households owning with a mortgage or a loan were more likely to have a HIH aged 35 to 44 (27 per cent) or 45 to 59 (41 per cent) than any other tenure. Households owning with a mortgage or loan also had the highest proportion of three people (20 per cent) or four or more people (31 per cent) living in the household. Correspondingly, 40 per cent of these households had children. Over 90 per cent (92 per cent) of households that owned with a mortgage or loan had at least one car and 75 per cent had a net household income of over £25,000, the highest of any tenure.

Households in private rented accommodation were more likely to have a HIH aged 16 to 24 (18 per cent) or 25 to 34 (34 per cent) than specified tenures. Sixty-five per cent of private renting households were either single adult households or small adult households. Forty-three per cent of private renting households did not have a car.

The profiles of households in local authority rented properties and those in housing association properties were similar. Social rented households were characterised by large percentages of one-person households (47 per cent), and correspondingly had a high proportion of single adult households (31 per cent) and single older households (17 per cent). Six in 10 (59 per cent) social sector households did not have a car, and two fifths (41 per cent) had a net household income of £15,000 or less. Twenty-eight per cent of social sector households stated that they managed well financially, a figure lower than all other tenures. Around one in five (22 per cent) stated that they didn’t manage well, a figure that is higher than other tenures.

Table 3.3: Household characteristics by tenure
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier			Private Rent	Social Rent			Other	All
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All		Local authority	Housing association**	All
Proportional sizes of sectors	33	29	62	14	14	9	23	1	100
Number of people in household
1 person	36	18	28	40	47	47	47	36	34
2 people	49	32	41	35	27	26	26	41	37
3 people	8	20	14	14	16	13	15	12	14
4+ people	7	31	18	12	11	14	12	11	16
Household composition
Large adult	9	11	10	7	7	8	7	10	9
Large family	2	10	6	3	5	6	5	1	5
Older smaller	33	3	19	3	8	7	7	13	14
Single adult	12	18	15	37	30	31	31	19	22
Single parent	1	4	3	5	11	10	11	5	5
Single older	26	2	15	5	18	17	17	20	14
Small adult	15	27	20	27	14	14	14	21	20
Small family	3	26	13	12	9	9	9	11	12
Age of highest income householder
16 to 24	1	2	1	18	6	4	5	15	5
25 to 34	1	21	11	34	16	15	16	14	15
35 to 44	2	27	14	18	16	15	16	14	15
45 to 59	22	41	31	19	29	31	30	16	29
60 to 74	44	7	27	8	21	22	22	21	23
75 plus	29	1	16	3	12	12	12	20	13
Number of cars
0 cars	19	8	14	43	59	58	59	36	29
1 car	49	42	46	40	34	33	33	39	42
2+ cars	32	50	40	16	7	9	8	26	29
Net household income
£0-£6,000	3	1	2	5	3	2	3	5	2
£6,001-£10,000	8	1	5	7	12	12	12	8	7
£10,001-£15,000	16	4	10	14	28	24	27	17	15
£15,001-£20,000	16	7	12	15	22	21	22	14	15
£20,001-£25,000	13	10	12	12	11	13	12	10	12
£25,001-£30,000	9	10	10	10	7	9	8	9	9
£30,001-£35,000	8	9	8	7	6	5	5	5	7
£35,001-£40,000	5	10	7	6	3	3	3	5	6
£40,001-£50,000	8	20	14	8	3	3	3	14	10
£50,001-£60,000	4	12	8	5	1	1	1	4	6
£60,001-£70,000	2	6	4	2	0	0	0	-	3
£70,001-£80,000	1	4	2	1	-	0	0	-	2
Over £80,000	2	5	3	1	0	0	0	2	2
Don't know/Refused	6	1	4	7	4	5	4	6	4
Base	3,860	2,880	6,730	1,250	1,460	970	2,430	120	10,530
How well household is managing financially***
Manages well	74	62	69	44	27	29	28	43	55
Gets by	24	32	28	43	51	49	50	49	35
Does not manage well	2	5	4	13	22	22	22	9	9
Base	3,820	2,850	6,670	1,240	1,440	970	2,410	120	10,440

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Excludes Refused and Don't know. The “Manage well” category has been created by combining the response categories “Manages very well” and “Manages quite well”. The “Does not manage well” category has been created by combining the response categories “Does not manage very well”, “Has some financial difficulties” and “Is in deep financial trouble”.

3.3.2 Adult Characteristics

Table 3.4 provides information on characteristics of adults for the year 2018 such as ethnicity, length of tenure and tenure of previous address.

Over half of adults in owned outright properties were permanently retired from work (55 per cent), and had been living at the same address for more than 20 years (51 per cent). Of the small proportion (three per cent) of adults who had moved into their address within the previous year, half (50 per cent) had moved from another owned outright property and four-fifths (80 per cent) changed address to occupy the entire property, as opposed to moving address to join an existing household.

Adults in properties owned with a mortgage or loan were more likely to be employed (82 per cent) than adults in all other tenures. Of the eight per cent of adults who had moved into their address in the previous year, more than four-fifths (82 per cent) moved to occupy the entire property as opposed to joining an existing household, and 37 per cent moved from a previous property owned with a mortgage. A further 27 per cent moved from the private rented sector.

Nineteen per cent of adults in the private rented sector were in school or further/higher education. Only 52 per cent recorded their ethnicity as white Scottish, which is lower than other tenures. Thirty-nine per cent had been at their current address for less than one year, much higher than any other tenure. For those who had moved into their property in the last year, 86 per cent moved to occupy the entire property as opposed to joining an existing household, almost two thirds (61 per cent) moved from another private rented dwelling, whilst 20 per cent moved from their parental home.

The profiles of adults living in local authority dwellings and housing association properties were very similar. Adults in social rented properties had a higher proportion of people permanently sick or disabled (15 per cent) and a higher proportion of people unemployed and seeking work (nine per cent) compared to adults in all other tenures. For the 11 per cent who had moved into their property in the last year, 55 per cent had moved from another social rented property.

Table 3.4: Adult characteristics by tenure^[42]
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier			Private Rent	Social Rent			Other	All
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All		Local authority	Housing association**	All
Proportional sizes of sectors***	33	29	62	14	14	9	23	1	100
Ethnicity
White Scottish	82	79	81	52	85	80	83	70	77
White other British	14	12	13	16	6	8	7	11	12
White Polish	0	1	1	4	3	3	3	1	2
White other	2	4	3	18	3	5	4	6	5
Any Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British	1	3	2	7	1	2	1	5	3
African, Caribbean or Black	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	1	1
Other Ethnic Group	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	2	0
Don't Know	0	0	0	-	0	-	0	1	0
Refused	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	0
Economic situation
Self employed	6	8	7	7	3	3	3	6	6
Employed full time	21	61	41	45	27	25	26	25	38
Employed part time	9	13	11	7	11	12	11	2	10
Looking after the home or family	2	3	3	5	8	9	8	14	4
Permanently retired from work	55	4	29	6	21	18	20	22	24
Unemployed and seeking work	2	2	2	5	9	8	9	5	4
At school	1	3	2	1	1	0	1	-	2
In further / higher education	2	4	3	18	4	6	4	20	5
Gov't work or training scheme	0	0	0	-	0	1	1	-	0
Permanently sick or disabled	2	1	1	4	15	16	15	2	5
Unable to work because of short-term illness or injury	0	0	0	1	2	1	2	2	1
Refused	0	-	0	-	-	-	-	-	0
Other (specify)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Length of time at current address
Less than one year	3	8	5	39	11	12	11	22	11
1 to 2 years	5	16	10	28	12	14	13	14	13
3 to 4 years	5	15	10	14	12	13	12	16	11
5 to 10 years	12	23	18	12	26	26	26	16	19
11 to 20 years	24	28	26	5	21	26	23	16	22
More than 20 years	51	10	30	3	18	9	15	17	23
Average time at current address in years	23	9	16	3	12	9	11	11	13
Base	3,620	1,570	6,190	1,160	1,340	910	2,250	105	9,700
Tenure of previous address****
Owned outright	50	6	16	4	1	4	2	*	8
Buying with help of loan/mortgage	24	37	34	6	1	5	3	*	14
Private Rented	10	27	23	61	14	14	14	*	39
Rent – Local authority	2	4	3	2	46	21	36	*	10
Rent - Housing association/Coop/Charitable trust	-	2	2	2	7	38	19	*	5
Other	3	3	3	4	16	6	12	*	6
In parental/family home	11	21	19	20	15	13	14	*	19
Whether the change of address was to join an existing family/household, or to occupy the entire property****
To join an existing family or household	20	16	17	13	12	24	17	*	15
To occupy the entire property	80	82	82	86	82	76	79	*	83
Don’t know	-	2	2	2	6	1	4	*	2
Base	100	200	300	410	150	110	250	20	980

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Based on Household sample (base: 10,530)
**** Only asked of those who have been at their current address for less than a year

3.3.3 Neighbourhood views, reasons for moving and future housing aspirations

Table 3.5, Table 3.6, Figure 3.6 and Table 3.7 provide information for the year 2018 on people’s views on their neighbourhood, their satisfaction with their current housing, their reasons for moving to the area, and their future housing aspirations.

Nine in 10 households (90 per cent) reported that they were very or fairly satisfied with their housing, with 51 per cent being very satisfied and 39 per cent being fairly satisfied (Figure 3.6). Between 2017 and 2018, there was a slight drop in the percentage of households being either very or fairly satisfied with their housing, from 92 per cent to 90 per cent, with the proportion of households being very satisfied with their housing dropping from 56 per cent in 2017 to 51 per cent in 2018.

Around a third (36 per cent) of households who owned their property outright moved to their area to get the right size or kind of property, a figure higher than for rented tenures (20 per cent and 28 per cent for private and social rented respectively) (Table 3.5). Over two thirds (68 per cent) of households who owned outright rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live, with a further 30 per cent rating their neighbourhood as fairly good (Table 3.7). Nearly half (48 per cent) of households who owned outright had a very strong feeling of belonging to their immediate neighbourhood, with a further 39 per cent having a fairly strong feeling of belonging. Eighty-two per cent of households who owned outright expected not to move from their current property in the future (Table 3.5), and nearly all owned outright households (98 per cent) stated that the type of accommodation they would most like to live in would be an owner occupier property (Table 3.6). Sixteen per cent of households owning their property outright would most like to live in a property of a smaller size, a percentage higher than other tenures. Around two thirds (65 per cent) of households owning their property outright were very satisfied with their housing, a proportion higher than any other tenure group (Table 3.7).

Similar to owned outright households, over a third (39 per cent) of households owning with a mortgage or a loan moved to their area to get the right size or kind of property (Table 3.5). One in five (20 per cent) households owning with a mortgage or a loan stated that they would expect to move from their current property within five years. Almost three quarters (71 per cent) expected not to move from their current property in the future. Similar to owned outright households, nearly all (98 per cent) households stated that the type of accommodation they would most like to live in would be an owner occupier property (Table 3.6). Around a third (29 per cent) of households owning with a mortgage or loan would like to live in a larger property. The main barriers to moving to accommodation the householders would most like to live in (where the respondent would like to move but are not certain they will be able to move) included not being able to afford mortgage/rent payments (22 per cent), not available / in limited supply where they want to live (21 per cent), and not being able to raise a sufficient deposit (18 per cent). More than half (53 per cent) of households owning with a mortgage or loan were very satisfied with their housing (Table 3.7).

Around one in five (19 per cent) households in private rented accommodation moved to their area to be close to work or employment, a higher percentage figure than all other specified tenures (except ‘other’) (Table 3.5). Only 21 per cent of households in private rented accommodation had a very strong feeling of belonging to their immediate neighbourhood, whilst 37 per cent felt not very strongly or not at all strongly; the highest of any tenure (Table 3.7). Over half (54 per cent) of households in private rented accommodation expected to move from their current property within the next five years, a percentage much higher than in other tenures (Table 3.5). Over two thirds (68 per cent) of households in private rented accommodation stated that the type of accommodation they would most like to live in would be an owner occupier property, and a third would most like to live in a larger property (Table 3.6). The main barriers to moving to accommodation the householders would most like to live in (where the respondent would like to move but are not certain they will be able to move) included the inability to raise a sufficient deposit (40 per cent), and not being able to obtain a mortgage (26 per cent). Six per cent would most like to live in social rented accommodation and 17 per cent would most like to live in private rented accommodation.

Local authority dwellings and housing association properties showed a very similar profile. Around four in 10 (39 per cent) households in social rented properties rated their neighbourhood as a very good place to live, a percentage which is lower than other tenures (Table 3.7). Around two thirds (65 per cent) expected not to move from their current property in the future (Table 3.5). Over a third (38 per cent) of households in social rented accommodation stated that the type of accommodation they would most like to live in would be an owner occupier property, with around half (53 per cent) preferring to live in social rented accommodation (Table 3.6). The main barriers to moving to accommodation the householders would most like to live in (where the respondent would like to move but are not certain they will be able to move) included the inability raise a sufficient deposit (50 per cent), not being able to obtain a mortgage (25 per cent), and not being able to afford mortgage/rent payments (22 per cent).

Table 3.5: Reasons for moving to local area, and when households expect to move, by tenure
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier				Social Rent
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All	Private Rent	Local authority	Housing association**	All	Other	All
Proportional sizes of sectors ***	33	29	62	14	14	9	23	1	100
Reasons for moving to area ****
To be near family/friends	12	10	11	11	11	12	11	5	11
To be close to work/employment	12	9	10	19	2	3	3	35	10
Change in family/household circumstances / left home	19	19	19	20	27	22	25	21	20
To buy own house/flat or rent place of own	12	25	18	10	9	9	9	7	15
Health reasons, including move to bungalow / flat	4	0	2	2	11	12	11	4	4
Moved to sheltered housing / supported accommodation	0	0	0	0	3	4	3	3	1
Like the area / nice area	18	18	18	14	8	9	8	-	15
Move to the countryside / sea	2	3	2	3	0	1	1	-	2
Good schools	2	5	3	2	1	1	1	-	2
Good services / amenities	3	2	2	3	1	2	2	3	2
Good transport	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	-	1
Wanted a garden / land	3	3	3	1	2	2	2	-	2
Right size / kind of property	36	39	38	20	30	24	28	22	33
Cheaper property	1	2	2	3	2	1	2	4	2
No choice - allocated by council / Housing Association, eviction	1	0	1	4	11	10	11	6	4
To avoid violence / discrimination	0	0	0	1	2	3	2	-	1
Other	3	2	3	5	3	4	3	-	3
Don't know	1	-	0	0	0	1	1	-	0
Base	1,540	1,190	2,730	470	630	410	1,040	50	4,300
When the householder expects to move
Within 6 months	2	2	2	15	6	4	5	*	5
Over 6 months to less than 1 year	2	2	2	11	2	4	3	*	4
Over 1 year, less than 2 years	2	4	3	12	5	7	6	*	5
Over 2 years, less than 3 years	2	5	3	8	4	7	5	*	4
Over 3 years, less than 4 years	1	2	2	4	2	2	2	*	2
Over 4 years, less than 5 years	2	3	2	4	1	2	2	*	2
More than 5 years	3	6	4	2	4	3	3	*	4
Don't expect to move	82	71	77	36	68	62	65	*	68
Don't know	4	4	4	9	8	10	9	*	6
Base	1,070	790	1,860	370	400	290	690	30	2,950

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Based on Household sample (base: 10,530)
**** Columns may not add up to 100 per cent since multiple responses were allowed

Table 3.6: Size of property that householder would most like to live in, and barriers to moving.
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier				Social Rent
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All	Private Rent	Local authority	Housing association**	All	Other	All
Proportional sizes of sectors ***	32	29	62	15	13	9	22	1	100
Accommodation householder would like to live in
Owner occupier	98	98	98	68	33	44	38	*	79
Local Authority Rent	1	1	1	6	52	5	33	*	9
Housing Association Rent	0	0	0	2	4	43	20	*	5
Private Rent	0	0	0	17	3	1	2	*	3
Sheltered / Supported accommodation	0	-	0	1	3	3	3	*	1
Other	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	*	0
Don't know	1	1	1	5	5	3	4	*	2
Compared to current accommodation, the size of property householder would most like to live in
Larger	7	29	17	33	22	26	23	*	21
Same size as current	75	65	70	59	69	68	69	*	68
Smaller	16	5	11	6	8	6	7	*	9
Don’t know	2	1	2	2	1	1	1	*	2
Base	1,070	790	1,860	370	400	290	690	30	2,950
Barriers to moving to the accommodation the householder would most like to live in****
Cannot raise sufficient deposit	*	18	15	40	51	50	51	*	38
Cannot obtain a mortgage	*	5	5	26	26	23	25	*	21
Cannot afford mortgage/rent payments	*	22	16	19	23	21	22	*	19
Not available/in limited supply where I want/have to live	*	21	21	12	17	11	14	*	14
Waiting lists are too long	*	1	1	5	12	8	10	*	5
Practicalities of moving are too challenging/daunting	*	10	7	1	1	-	1	*	3
Lack support/assistance	*	0	0	-	2	3	3	*	1
Lack of suitable adapted/specialised accommodation for needs	*	2	4	-	4	-	2	*	2
Other	*	8	12	11	1	12	6	*	10
No barrier	*	26	32	14	11	11	11	*	17
Base	40	70	100	150	70	60	130	10	400

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Based on Household sample (base: 10,530)
**** Where respondents would like to move from their current property and are not certain they will be able to move

Figure 3.6: Percentage of households very or fairly satisfied with housing
2018 data, Households (minimum base: 2,950)

Table 3.7: Views on neighbourhood and housing aspirations, by tenure.
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier				Social Rent
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All	Private Rent	Local authority	Housing association**	All	Other	All
Proportional sizes of sectors***	33	29	62	14	14	9	23	1	100
Rating of neighbourhood as a place to live
Very good	68	62	65	51	40	38	39	55	57
Fairly good	30	35	33	42	46	51	48	38	37
Fairly poor	2	2	2	5	11	8	10	7	4
Very poor	1	0	1	2	3	3	3	1	1
No opinion	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	-	0
Strength of belonging to immediate neighbourhood
Very strongly	48	34	41	21	32	31	31	30	36
Fairly strongly	39	46	43	39	40	42	41	40	42
Not very strongly	10	16	13	27	18	20	18	21	16
Not at all strongly	2	3	2	10	9	7	8	6	5
Don't know	1	1	1	3	2	1	2	2	1
Base	3,620	2,570	6,190	1,160	1,340	910	2,250	110	9,700
Housing Satisfaction
Very satisfied	65	53	59	38	35	40	37	*	51
Fairly satisfied	32	41	36	45	45	44	45	*	39
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	3	4	3	12	8	8	8	*	6
Fairly dissatisfied	0	2	1	4	8	5	7	*	3
Very dissatisfied	0	1	0	1	3	3	3	*	1
No opinion	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	*	0
Base	1,070	790	1,860	370	400	290	690	30	2,950

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Based on Household sample (base: 10,530)

3.4 Households Renting Privately – information on use of deposits, and landlords and letting agents

Table 3.8 provides information for the year 2018 on households who are renting privately; whether they are renting direct from a landlord or letting agent, if they paid a deposit, when they first started to rent their property, and on views on the management and service provided by landlords and letting agents.

Almost two thirds (62 per cent) of households renting privately in 2018 were renting direct from a landlord, with 34 per cent renting through a letting agent, two per cent renting from neither a landlord or letting agent, and one per cent reporting that they didn’t know. This equates to approximately 210,000 private rented households renting direct from a landlord, and 120,000 private rented households renting from a letting agent.

The use of letting agents was more common amongst private renting households in which the adult respondent to the survey had been living at that address for under a year, for which almost half (45 per cent) were renting through a letting agent, compared to 51 per cent direct from a landlord.

Almost eight in 10 (78 per cent) households who were currently renting privately paid a deposit when they started to rent their property. This rises to almost nine in 10 (87 per cent) for households in which the adult respondent to the survey had been living at that address for under a year.

For households renting direct from a landlord, a quarter (25 per cent) had been consulted on changes to services, policy or rent in the latest year. Over a half (54 per cent) were very satisfied with the overall service provided by the landlord, with a further 32 per cent being fairly satisfied. The majority (78 per cent) thought that the management of the home by the landlord had stayed the same during the last five years, with nine per cent saying it had improved, and four per cent stating it had gotten worse. Over three-quarters (77 per cent) were either very or fairly confident that they would know what to do if they wanted to make a formal complaint about the landlord.

For households renting from a letting agent, around a quarter (28 per cent) had been consulted on changes to services, policy or rent in the latest year. Over a third (35 per cent) were very satisfied with the overall service provided by the letting agent, with a further 48 per cent being fairly satisfied. The majority (82 per cent) thought that the management of the home by the letting agent had stayed the same during the last five years, with four per cent saying it had improved and three per cent stating it had gotten worse. Around three-quarters (76 per cent) were either very or fairly confident that they would know what to do if they wanted to make a formal complaint about the letting agent.

Table 3.8: Households renting privately – information on landlord / letting agents and deposits
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Households renting privately
Whether the property is rented direct from a landlord or through a letting agent (all current PRS households)
Direct from landlord	62
Through a Letting Agent	34
None of the above	2
Don't know	1
Base	530
Whether the property is rented direct from a landlord or through a letting agent - where at address for less than a year
Direct from landlord	51
Through a Letting Agent	45
None of the above	2
Don't know	2
Base	220
Was a deposit paid when the householder started to rent this property (all current PRS households)
Yes	78
No	20
Don't know	2
Base	1,250
Was a deposit paid when the householder started to rent this property - where at address for less than a year
Yes	87
No	11
Don't know	2
Base	410
	Landlord	Letting Agent
In the last year has your landlord / letting agent consulted you on changes to services, policy or rent?
Yes	25	28
No	73	71
Don't know	2	0
How satisfied are you with the overall service provided by your landlord / letting agent
Very satisfied	54	35
Fairly satisfied	32	48
Neither satisfied or dissatisfied	6	8
Fairly dissatisfied	3	6
Very dissatisfied	4	1
No optinion	0	1
Would you say that the management of your home by your landlord / letting agent has improved during the last five years
Improved	9	4
Same	78	82
Worse	4	3
Don't know	9	11
If you had a problem with your landlord / letting agent and wanted to make a formal complaint about them, how confidence are you that you would know what to do
Very confident	45	32
Fairly confident	32	44
Not very confident	12	16
Not at all confident	7	7
Don't know	4	1
Base	340	170

3.5 Housing Adaptations and Support

Table 3.9 and Table 3.10 provide information for the year 2018 on housing adaptations and support.

Households owning their property outright (46 per cent) and households in social rented accommodation (59 per cent) were more likely than those who privately rented (27 per cent) or were buying with a mortgage (23 per cent) to have a member of the household with a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expecting to last 12 months or more (Table 3.9).

For households with a person with a physical or mental health condition, the most common aspects of their home that limit activities that can be done were not being able to get upstairs inside the house (six per cent) and the bath or shower being difficult to access or use (five per cent). Of all households with a person with a physical or mental health condition, 84 per cent stated that nothing about the home limited activities could be done.

Twelve per cent of households with a person with a physical or mental health condition stated that their home requires adaptations to make it easier to go about daily activities, which equates to a total of around 120,000 households.

Table 3.10 shows that the most common types of home adaptions already in place for all homes (whether needed or not) were handrails, which were in 10 per cent of all homes, and in 17 per cent of social sector homes. Over one in 10 (12 per cent) social sector homes had a specially designed or adapted bath or shower, and seven per cent had a specially designed or adapted toilet or door entry phone.

Two per cent of all households received a home care worker or home help to help with housework, cooking and cleaning, whilst one per cent received a home care worker to help with washing, bathing, dressing etc. Three per cent of homes received some sort of assistance from a relative, friend or neighbour. Social sector homes received the largest proportion of assistance from a relative, friend or neighbour (seven per cent).

Table 3.9: Limiting activities by tenure^[43]
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier				Social Rent
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All	Private Rent	Local authority	Housing association**	All	Other	All
Proportional sizes of sectors***	33	29	62	14	14	9	23	1	100
Household has someone with a long term physical/mental health condition/illness****
Yes	46	23	36	27	60	58	59	43	40
No	54	77	64	73	40	42	41	57	60
Base	3,860	2,880	6,730	1,250	1,460	970	2,430	120	10,530
What about the home limits activities that can be done*****
Can't get upstairs inside house	6	4	6	8	6	8	7	*	6
Too small / need more rooms	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	*	1
Can't leave house because of stairs to house	1	1	1	1	3	2	2	*	2
Restricted movement / can't get around the house due to design / layout	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	*	1
Doors too narrow	1	0	0	-	2	1	1	*	1
Rooms too small	0	1	1	2	1	1	1	*	1
Bath / shower difficult to access / use	4	3	4	4	8	7	8	*	5
Toilet difficult to access / use	1	1	1	1	3	3	3	*	2
Electric lights / sockets are difficult to reach / use	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	*	1
Heating controls are difficult to reach / use	0	1	0	-	1	0	1	*	1
Can't open windows	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	*	1
Difficulty answering / opening door	1	1	1	-	3	1	2	*	1
Cupboards / shelves are difficult to reach / use	1	0	1	3	3	3	3	*	2
Can't get into / use garden	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	*	1
Other	1	1	1	-	1	3	2	*	1
None / nothing	87	90	88	88	78	78	78	*	84
Whether the home requires adaptations to make it easier to go about daily activities *****
Yes	10	7	9	8	18	18	18	*	12
No	90	92	90	91	80	81	80	*	87
Don't know	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	*	1
Base	790	290	1,080	160	420	260	670	20	1,930

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Based on Household sample (base: 10,530)
**** A long term condition is defined as lasting or expecting to last for 12 months or more
***** Asked of households with someone with a long term condition/illness

Table 3.10: Housing adaptations and support, by tenure^[44]
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier				Social Rent
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All	Private Rent	Local authority	Housing association**	All	Other	All
Proportional sizes of sectors***	32	29	62	15	13	9	22	1	100
Home adaptations that are already in place
Ramps	3	1	2	1	3	3	3	4	2
Door widening	2	2	2	0	1	7	3	4	2
Relocated light switches and power points	2	1	2	-	2	5	3	-	2
Individual alarm systems	2	1	1	0	3	5	4	-	2
Stairlift	2	1	1	0	2	1	2	-	1
Through floor lift	0	0	0	-	-	1	0	-	0
Handrails	12	4	8	4	18	15	17	5	10
Specially designed / adapted kitchen	0	0	0	-	1	3	2	-	1
Specially designed / adapted bathroom / shower	7	2	4	2	11	13	12	9	6
Specially designed / adapted toilet	3	1	2	1	7	7	7	2	3
Door entry phone	2	2	2	7	6	9	7	14	4
Extension to meet disabled person's needs	0	0	0	-	0	0	0	-	0
Special Furniture	1	1	1	-	1	1	1	-	1
Other	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	-	0
None needed / provided	76	89	82	83	67	65	66	70	78
Don't know	4	2	3	5	4	4	4	-	3
Services that household members currently receive
Home care worker / home help (helping with housework, cooking, cleaning)	2	0	1	1	3	5	4	-	2
Home care worker (helping with washing / bathing, dressing, toilet)	2	0	1	1	3	3	3	-	1
Meals delivered to home / meals on wheels	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	-	0
Day care / day centre (in hospital, residential home or other organisation)	0	0	0	-	1	1	1	2	0
Respite / short term care in residential / nursing home	0	0	0	-	1	0	1	2	0
Occupational therapy / physiotherapy	1	1	1	1	3	2	3	-	1
Help with shopping	2	0	1	1	4	3	4	5	2
Night care (someone present at night only)	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	-	0
Assistance from relative / friend / neighbour	3	1	2	2	7	7	7	1	3
None	93	98	95	97	86	86	86	93	93
Base	1,740	1,270	3,010	530	680	440	1,110	60	4,710

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Based on Household sample (base: 10,530)

3.6 Housing Lists

The number of people on housing lists helps provide an indication of the demand for social housing. In Scotland, anyone over the age of 16 has the right to be admitted to a housing list. Since there is no test of particular housing need at the stage that an application is made, housing lists are indicators of demand and not necessarily of housing need.

Housing lists are held by social landlords, local authorities and housing associations, individually or jointly as Common Housing Registers. They can include people who are already in social housing but are seeking a move and in some cases applicants will be on more than one landlord’s list. Social landlords are responsible for allocating their housing, in line with their allocation policies and the legislative framework.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014^[45] contains provisions intended to support social landlords to allocate and manage their housing in a way which balances the variety of housing needs in their area and gives local communities a greater say in who gets priority for housing.

A question about being on a housing list was introduced to the SHS in 2013 and these questions are asked of the random adult^[46]. However, note that changes were made to the questions in 2017 with the aim to better capture households who are using choice based lettings when seeking social housing. These may affect comparisons over time, and therefore some caution should be used when comparing the 2017 and 2018 results to earlier years.

Also note that the Scottish Household Survey is based on a sample of the general population living in private residences in Scotland, and therefore it may exclude some people or households or who are on a housing list but who are living in other types of accommodation such as hostels or bed and breakfast accommodation.

Nine per cent of private rented households stated that they were on a housing list, of which more than half (57 per cent) were only on one list (Table 3.11). Over half (52 per cent) of private rented households on a housing list had been so for three years or less, with just under a third (29 per cent) on a list for one to three years. Sixteen per cent have been on a housing list for more than 10 years. For around a quarter (24 per cent) of private rented households on a housing list, the main reason for being on a housing list was that they can’t afford current housing or would like cheaper housing. This was a much larger percentage than the equivalent figure for social rented households (three per cent). An additional one per cent of private rented households had applied for social housing under a choice-based letting scheme, or similar, in the last year.

Fourteen per cent of social rented households stated that they were on a housing list, of which 72 per cent were only on one list. Sixty per cent of social rented households on a housing list had been so for three years or less, with over a quarter (27 per cent) on a list for less than a year. Eight per cent had been on a housing list for more than 10 years. For around a third (29 per cent) of social rented households on a housing list, the main reason for being on a housing list was to move to a bigger or smaller property. An additional two per cent of social rented households had applied for social housing under a choice-based letting scheme, or similar, in the last year.

One per cent of owner occupier households stated that they were on a housing list, of which over half (57 per cent) were only on one list. Over half (56 per cent) of households on a housing list had been so for three years or less. Eighteen per cent had been on a housing list for more than 10 years. For around a quarter (22 per cent) of owner occupier households on a housing list, the main reason for being on a housing list was to move to their own property away from parents / partner.

Table 3.11: Households on a housing list by tenure
Column percentages, 2018 data

	Owner Occupier			Private Rent	Social Rent			Other	All
	Owned outright	Buying with mortgage*	All		Local authority	Housing association**	All
Whether household is on a housing list
Yes	1	1	1	9	15	12	14	5	5
No***	99	99	99	90	83	87	85	95	94
Don't know / refused	0	0	0	1	2	1	2	-	1
If not on a housing list, whether household has applied for social housing under a a choice-based letting scheme, or similar, in the last year
Yes	0	0	0	1	2	2	2	1	1
No****	100	100	100	99	97	97	97	99	99
Don't know	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	-	1
Base	3,620	2,570	6,190	1,160	1,340	910	2,250	110	9,700
The number of housing lists that households are on (households on a list)
1 list	*	*	57	57	74	67	72	*	66
2 lists	*	*	13	20	7	9	8	*	12
3 or more lists	*	*	2	10	3	8	4	*	5
Don't know / refused	*	*	28	14	16	16	16	*	18
How long the household has been on a housing list***** (households on a list)
Less than a year	*	*	28	23	26	29	27	*	26
1 to 3 years	*	*	28	29	35	29	33	*	31
4 to 5 years	*	*	11	19	15	19	16	*	16
6 to 10 years	*	*	6	8	7	6	7	*	7
More than 10 years	*	*	18	16	8	7	8	*	11
Don't know	*	*	8	6	9	9	9	*	8
The main reason for household being on a housing list (households on a list)
Can't afford current housing / Would like cheaper housing	*	*	6	24	2	3	3	*	8
Threatened with homelessness	*	*	14	9	12	9	11	*	11
To move to a different area - anti-social/safety concerns in current area	*	*	-	2	7	7	7	*	5
To move to a different area - for work opportunities	*	*	5	1	1	1	1	*	2
To move to a different area - to a better area	*	*	9	7	11	15	12	*	11
To move to a different area - to be nearer family and friends	*	*	1	3	4	9	6	*	5
To move to a different area - school catchment area	*	*	0	-	0	-	0	*	0
To move to a different area - other reason	*	*	2	5	2	0	2	*	2
To move to a different property - bigger/smaller	*	*	15	21	28	31	29	*	25
To move to a different property - need adaptations	*	*	4	2	4	2	3	*	3
To move to a different property - need ground floor access	*	*	5	5	7	11	9	*	7
To move to my own property away from parents/partner etc	*	*	22	9	8	5	7	*	10
To move to a different property - other reason	*	*	3	1	3	0	2	*	2
Other	*	*	5	4	7	2	5	*	5
Don't know	*	*	9	5	3	5	4	*	5
Refused	*	*	-	-	1	-	0	-	0
Base	40	30	70	110	190	110	300	0	480

* The full category name is "Buying with the help of loan/mortgage"
** The full category name is "Housing association / Co-op / Charitable trust"
*** Respondents who have said that either they have never looked for social housing or that they have looked for social housing but are not currently on a list
**** Respondents who have said that either they have never looked for social housing or that they have looked for social housing but are not currently on a list and they have also not applied for housing under a choice based letting scheme in the last year
***** where a household has been on multiple lists, this is the time spent on the list that they have been on for the longest

The estimated share of households on a housing list has been calculated based on responses from the random adult but weighted to make it representative of households. This methodology is likely to slightly under-estimate the true figure due to assumptions which are discussed in Annex 2: Glossary.

Table 3.12 and Table 3.13 present the results for 2018 based on the percentage of respondents who indicated that they were on at least one housing list, whether through a Council, Registered Social Landlord (RSL) or a Common Housing Register (CHR).

To convert the SHS estimate into the corresponding number of adults, the SHS percentage is multiplied by the estimated adult population^[47]. This results in an estimate that there were 210,000 adults in Scotland on housing lists for 2018. It is important to note that this estimate does not include children and that, where an adult is responsible for a child, the child will effectively also be on a housing list. A further 20,000 adults were estimated to have applied for social housing using a choice based letting system, or similar, in the last year. These figures are similar to those seen in the previous year 2017, in which an estimated 220,000 adults were on a housing list, and a further 20,000 had used a choice based letting system.

Housing list statistics are more commonly reported in terms of the number of households on lists rather than the number of adults. Table 3.11 shows that five per cent of households were on a list. As with adults, this figure is multiplied to estimate the total number of households, displayed in Table 3.13 . This table shows that an estimated 130,000 households were on a list, with a further 10,000 households estimated to have applied for social housing using a choice based letting system, or similar, in the last year, figures which are similar to those seen in the previous year 2017.

Table 3.12: Adults on housing lists^[48]
Column percentages and population estimates, 2013 to 2018 data

All adults	2013		2014		2015		2016
	Per cent	Adults	Per cent	Adults	Per cent	Adults	Per cent	Adults
No, not on a housing list	91.9	4,060,000	92.9	4,120,000	94.3	4,210,000	95.5	4,290,000
Yes, on a housing list	6.4	280,000	6.0	270,000	5.0	220,000	3.9	180,000
Don't know / refused	1.7	80,000	1.1	50,000	0.7	30,000	0.6	30,000
All*	100	4,416,121	100	4,436,559	100	4,460,738	100	4,488,783
Base	9,920	-	9,800	-	9,410	-	9,640	-

All adults who have ever looked for social housing	2017		2018
	Per cent	Adults	Per cent	Adults
No, not on a housing list**	94.7	4,270,000	95.0	4,290,000
Yes, on a housing list	4.9	220,000	4.6	210,000
Don't know / refused	0.4	20,000	0.5	20,000
All*	100	4,507,358	100	4,518,598
Base	9,810	-	9,700	-
Not on a housing list, but have applied for social housing using choice based lettings, or similar, in the last year	0.6	30,000	0.4	20,000

* Adult estimates (population aged 16 and over) are from National Records of Scotland http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/population/population-estimates
** Respondents who have said that either they have never looked for social housing, or that they have looked for social housing but are not currently on a list

Table 3.13: Households on housing lists^[49]
Column percentages and household estimates, 2013 to 2018 data

	2013		2014		2015		2016
	Per cent	Households	Per cent	Households	Per cent	Households	Per cent	Households
No, not on a housing list	90.9	2,180,000	92.2	2,230,000	94.0	2,280,000	94.9	2,320,000
Yes, on a housing list	7.3	180,000	6.6	160,000	5.2	130,000	4.4	110,000
Don't know/refused	1.8	40,000	1.2	30,000	0.8	20,000	0.7	20,000
All*	100	2,400,342	100	2,416,014	100	2,429,943	100	2,446,171
Base	9,920	-	9,800	-	9,410	-	9,640	-

Per cent	2017		2018
Per cent	Per cent	Households	Per cent	Households
No, not on a housing list**	94.3	2,320,000	94.2	2,330,000
Yes, on a housing list	5.2	130,000	5.3	130,000
Don't know / refused	0.5	10,000	0.6	10,000
All*	100	2,462,736	4927038	2,477,275
Base	9,810	-	9,810	-
Not on a housing list, but have applied for social housing using choice based lettings, or similar, in the last year	0.7	20,000	0.5	10,000

* Household estimates are from National Records of Scotland https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/population/population-estimates
**Respondents who have said that either they have never looked for social housing, or that they have looked for social housing but are not currently on a list

3.6.1 Other Sources of Housing List Statistics

Housing list statistics are also reported in Housing Statistics for Scotland (HSfS)^[50]. Compared with the SHS estimate of 130,000, HSfS recorded 157,800 applicant households on local authority or Common Housing Register housing waiting or transfer lists as of 31 March 2018. The Housing Statistics for Scotland figure includes some double counting of households who are on multiple housing lists. However, it also excludes six Local Authorities (including Glasgow) which have transferred all of their social housing stock to Housing Associations.

3.7 Private Rented Sector - Changes between 1999 and 2018

As covered in previous sections, the private rented sector has seen significant growth in recent years, with the proportion of households living in this sector growing steadily from five per cent in 1999 to 15 per cent in 2016, an estimated increase of around a quarter of a million households from 120,000 to 370,000. The sector has subsequently slightly reduced in size between 2016 and the latest year 2018 (a drop of around 20,000 households), with an estimated total of 340,000 households in the sector in 2018, comprising 14 per cent of all households in Scotland.

Given these changes to the size of the sector, there is interest in understanding more about how characteristics of households in the sector have changed over time, along with interest in assessing any impacts of the introduction of the new private residential tenancy^[51], which came into effect on 1st December 2017 for all new tenancies.

This section provides information on trends in some of the key characteristics of private rented sector households between 1999 and 2018. For each characteristic of interest, results for each year are presented in three complementary ways:

(i) Privately renting households with each characteristic as a percentage of all households in the private rented sector. This will reflect changes in the composition of the sector.

(ii) The number of privately renting households with each characteristic.

(iii) Privately renting households^[52] with each characteristic as a percentage of all Scottish households with that characteristic. This measure helps to distinguish whether a change in the composition of the private rented sector, as captured by (i), is due to a change in the relative importance of the private rented sector for households with the particular characteristic, or whether it reflects changes in the composition of the Scottish population.

Key characteristics that are covered are: the urban / rural location of households, the age of the highest income householder, household composition, the economic situation of adults in the sector, the average length of time at current address, and previous tenure. This information is covered in detail in Table 3.14, Table 3.15, Table 3.16, Table 3.17 and Table 3.18.

3.7.1 Urban / Rural location of private rented households

Table 3.14 illustrates that the growth of the private rented sector over the years between 1999 and 2016 was largely concentrated in urban areas. In 1999, the private rented sector accounted for 10 per cent of homes in remote rural areas, double the share across all locations (five per cent). Since then, while there has been little growth in rural areas, the share of the private rented sector in urban areas and small towns has increased significantly. For example rising by 12 percentage points in large urban areas so that by 2016 one fifth (19 per cent) of households in these areas were in the private rented sector. This is equivalent to an additional 110,000 households in large urban areas in 2016 compared with 1999, a nearly three-fold increase over this time period.

Between 2016 and 2018 there has been a slight drop of approximately 20,000 privately rented households in urban areas, from 280,000 households to 260,000 households.

3.7.2 Ages of private rented householders

Table 3.15 provides information on the age of households in the private rented sector over the period 1999 to 2018, based on the age of the highest income adult in each household.

This shows that the growth in the private rented sector between 1999 and 2016 was greater for households with younger highest income householders, with all age groups except those aged 75 and over seeing an increase in the share living in the private rented sector. The proportion of all households aged 16 to 24 who were living in the private rented sector increased from 30 per cent in 1999 up to 57 per cent in 2016, equivalent to an increase of 40,000 households.

The largest increase in the number of households was in the age category 25 to 34 years, which saw an increase of 80,000 households between 1999 and 2016, from 40,000 households in 1999 to 120,000 households in 2016. For this age group, the share of households living in the private rented sector increased from nine per cent in 1999 up to 34 per cent in 2016.

The composition of private rented households by age of highest income householder has remained relatively stable across the latest two years between 2016 and 2018.

3.7.3 Household composition of private rented households

Table 3.16 shows that there was a substantial growth in the number of both single adult households as well as small adult households (i.e. a couple younger than pensionable age with no children) living in the private rented sector between 1999 and 2016, increasing by an estimated 90,000 and 70,000 households respectively between 1999 and 2016.

As a result, over this period the share of all single adults who rented privately and the share of all small adult households who rented privately increased by 13 and 14 percentage points respectively, to stand at 25 per cent and 20 per cent respectively in 2016.

The share of all small family households (i.e. households of two adults and one or two children) living in the private rented sector also rose, from three per cent in 1999 to 14 per cent in 2016, equivalent to an increase of 30,000 households from 10,000 to 40,000.

Between 2016 and 2018 there has been a fall in the proportion of private rented sector households which were comprised of single parent families, from nine per cent in 2016 to five per cent in 2018, a drop of around 10,000 households. The proportion of all single parent households living in the private rented sector has correspondingly fallen from 27 per cent in 2016 to 16 per cent in 2018, the lowest proportion since 2009.

There has also been a slight drop in the proportion of private rented sector households which were comprised of large families, from five per cent in 2017 to three per cent in 2018, a drop of approximately 10,000 households.

Given these drops in single parent and large family households (i.e. households of two adults of any age and three or more children, or three or more adults of any age and one or more children), the overall proportion of private rented sector households with children has dropped from around a quarter (24 per cent) in 2016 to around a fifth (20 per cent) in 2018.

It is worth noting that the private rented sector had a smaller share of large families than the overall population, and so the proportion of all children living in the private sector is lower than 20 per cent. There were an estimated 120,000 children living in the private rented sector in 2018 (See Table 3.17), which equates to around 13 per cent of the 919,502 0-15 year olds in Scotland (mid-2018 population estimates^[53]).

3.7.4 Economic situation of adults in private rented households

Table 3.17 provides information on the economic situation of adults in privately renting households from 1999 to 2018. It is based on interview responses from the ‘random adult’ in the household, and so is representative of adults in private rented accommodation and not entire households. The results should therefore be considered in terms of the overall number of adults in privately renting households, which has estimated to have increased by 420,000 from 200,000 adults in 1999 to 620,000 adults in 2017, before dropping to 570,000 adults in 2018.

There has been a large increase in the number of full-time employed adults who were living in the private rented sector, with the number of adults increasing by an estimated 190,000 people between 1999 and 2018. In 1999, the share of all full-time employed adults living the private rented sector was five per cent, but this has since risen to 16 per cent in 2018. This growth rate is reflected in changes to the composition of adults living in the private rented sector over time, with the proportion of adults renting privately who were working full-time rising by 11 percentage points over the period from 1999 to stand at 45 per cent in 2018.

The share of adults looking after the home or family living in the private rented sector increased from three per cent in 1999 to 21 per cent in 2016, but has since dropped to 16 per cent in 2018, which is consistent with the drops in the latest two years in the proportions of large family and single parent households over these years as covered in Table 3.16.

Ten per cent of all adults in the private rented sector in 1999 were permanently retired from work, and this proportion fell to six per cent by 2018. Given the increase in the sector as whole from 1999 to 2016, this lower share still equates to an increase in the number of permanently retired adults renting privately, rising from an estimated 20,000 adults in 1999 to 30,000 adults in 2018.

3.7.5 Length of time at current address, and previous tenure, of adults in private rented households

Table 3.18 provides information on the length of time at current address, along with information on the previous tenure, of adults in private rented households. It is based on interview responses from the ‘random adult’ in the household, and therefore is representative of adults in private rented accommodation and not entire households. Information on length of tenure is available from 1999 to 2018, whilst information on previous tenure is available from 2009 to 2018.

As with the previous results on the economic situation of adults, the results should be considered in terms of the overall number of adults in privately renting households, which has been estimated to have increased by 420,000 from 200,000 adults in 1999 to 620,000 adults in 2017, before dropping to 570,000 adults in 2018.

The growth in the private rented sector has brought about some changes to the profile of adults in the sector in terms of the length of time that people have been living at their current address. Within the private rented sector as a whole, there has been a fall between 1999 and 2017 in the percentages of adults that have been resident at their address for less than a year (46 per cent in 1999, down to 35 per cent in 2017), and at their address for 11 or more years (11 per cent in 1999, down to six per cent in 2017), with increases seen for those at their address for one to two years (23 per cent in 1999, up to 32 per cent in 2017) and for those at their address for three to 10 years (20 per cent in 1999, up to 27 per cent in 2017). The figures have been relatively stable between 2017 and 2018.

It is important to note that any changes to these profiles over time are likely to reflect in part changes to the underlying composition of the sector over time, such as the increase of the share of properties located in urban or small town areas, which have different underlying profiles for lengths of stay, or the increased number of young people (16-24) putting downward pressure on the length of time at current address.

The long term trend in the average length of time at current address shows a slightly downward trajectory through most years within the period. This may reflect changes in the composition of the sector in terms of growth in the number of properties in urban areas, households which generally have shorter lengths of stay on average compared to properties in small town or rural areas. The average length of stay for adults living in private rented households in urban areas has been relatively steady between 1999 and 2018, with averages of two or three years being seen for most years.

Where adults have been at their current address for less than one year, information is available on the previous tenure of these adults. Sample sizes are relatively low for this, so some caution should be used when comparing trends over time. The results show that in 2018 more than eight in 10 (82 per cent) adults in private sector accommodation had moved into their current address in the last year from either other private sector accommodation (61 per cent) or from their parental / family home (20 per cent). These percentages both appear to have remained relatively stable over the years 2009 to 2018.

Equating these figures to number of adults shows that during 2018, of the estimated 570,000 adults living in private sector accommodation, around 220,000 adults had been living at their address for less than one year, and of these, 140,000 had moved from another private sector household and 40,000 had moved from a parental or family home.

Table 3.14: Urban Rural Location of private rented households, by year
Column percentages and household estimates, 1999 to 2018 data

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Estimated number of households in the private rented sector	120,000	120,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	160,000	170,000	180,000	210,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	270,000	320,000	320,000	330,000	350,000	370,000	360,000	340,000
Urban / Rural Classification of private rented sector households (percentages of all private rented households):
Large urban areas	50	51	52	53	53	52	55	55	50	52	52	53	52	50	50	51	47	47	47	48
Other urban areas	16	18	18	20	17	18	18	20	24	20	23	24	23	26	26	25	32	31	32	29
Accessible small towns	6	5	6	4	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	6	5	6	6	7	6	7	7	6
Remote small towns	2	4	4	2	3	3	3	3	4	4	3	3	3	4	3	3	2	2	2	3
Accessible rural	17	12	14	12	13	14	11	10	11	11	12	10	11	10	9	9	7	8	8	9
Remote rural	10	10	8	9	9	8	7	7	8	7	6	4	6	5	5	5	6	5	5	5
As approximate number of private rented households:
Large urban areas	60,000	60,000	70,000	70,000	80,000	80,000	100,000	100,000	100,000	110,000	130,000	140,000	140,000	160,000	160,000	170,000	160,000	170,000	170,000	160,000
Other urban areas	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	50,000	40,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	80,000	80,000	80,000	110,000	110,000	120,000	100,000
Accessible small towns	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000
Remote small towns	-	-	10,000	-	-	-	10,000	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
Accessible rural	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000
Remote rural	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000
Base	750	850	920	890	890	1,040	1,130	1,150	1,070	1,110	1,330	1,420	1,460	1,250	1,270	1,300	1,330	1,390	1,360	1,250
For each urban/rural category, private rented households as a proportion of all households:
Large urban areas	7	8	8	8	9	9	10	11	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	19	19	19	20	19
Other urban areas	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	5	7	6	8	9	9	12	11	10	13	13	13	11
Accessible small towns	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	5	5	8	7	10	9	11	10	12	11	9
Remote small towns	3	6	8	5	7	7	5	5	8	9	9	7	8	12	11	10	8	11	9	10
Accessible rural	8	5	7	6	7	8	8	6	8	10	11	9	11	12	11	11	10	11	11	12
Remote rural	10	10	9	11	10	10	9	8	12	11	9	9	11	9	11	13	13	11	11	11
All areas	5	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	9	9	10	11	11	13	13	14	14	15	15	14
Base	13,780	14,560	14,610	14,040	13,970	14,780	14,070	14,190	12,240	12,370	12,540	12,440	12,890	9,890	9,920	9,800	9,400	9,640	9,810	10,530

Table 3.15: Age of Highest Income Householder in private rented households, by year
Column percentages and population estimates, 1999 to 2018 data

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Estimated number of households in the private rented sector	120,000	120,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	160,000	170,000	180,000	210,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	270,000	320,000	320,000	330,000	350,000	370,000	360,000	340,000
Age of highest income householder (percentages of all private rented households):
16 to 24	23	23	26	27	24	21	23	21	23	24	22	23	22	19	18	19	19	19	19	18
25 to 34	31	32	32	29	31	32	32	32	34	31	35	34	34	37	38	37	38	34	33	34
35 to 44	17	20	17	18	18	20	20	17	18	19	17	19	19	19	20	20	18	19	20	18
45 to 59	14	13	13	14	14	16	13	16	14	16	14	14	15	17	15	16	16	18	17	19
60 to 74	9	7	6	9	7	7	8	10	7	6	7	7	7	6	7	7	7	8	8	8
75 plus	6	5	6	5	5	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	3	3	2	2	2	3	3	3
As approximate number of private rented households:
16 to 24	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	70,000	70,000	70,000	60,000
25 to 34	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	70,000	70,000	80,000	90,000	90,000	120,000	120,000	120,000	130,000	130,000	120,000	120,000
35 to 44	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	70,000	70,000	60,000
45 to 59	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	70,000	60,000	60,000
60 to 74	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000
75 plus	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
Base	750	850	920	890	890	1,040	1,130	1,150	1,070	1,110	1,330	1,420	1,460	1,250	1,270	1,300	1,330	1,390	1,360	1,250
For each age category, private rented households as a proportion of all households:
16 to 24	30	32	37	38	37	36	42	40	44	45	46	52	51	51	51	59	55	57	60	53
25 to 34	9	11	12	12	13	15	17	18	21	21	26	26	28	33	35	35	37	34	34	31
35 to 44	4	5	5	5	6	7	8	7	8	9	9	11	12	14	15	16	16	18	19	17
45 to 59	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	5	6	6	8	7	7	8	9	9	9
60 to 74	2	2	2	3	2	2	3	4	3	2	3	3	4	3	4	4	4	5	5	5
75 plus	3	2	3	2	3	2	2	2	3	3	3	2	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	4
All ages	5	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	9	9	10	11	11	13	13	14	14	15	15	14
Base	14,680	15,550	15,570	15,070	14,880	15,940	15,400	15,620	13,410	13,810	14,190	14,210	14,360	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

Table 3.16: Household composition of private rented households, by year
Column percentages and households estimates, 1999 to 2018 data

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Estimated number of households in the private rented sector	120,000	120,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	160,000	170,000	180,000	210,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	270,000	320,000	320,000	330,000	350,000	370,000	360,000	340,000
Household composition (percentages of all private rented households):
Large adult	9	12	7	11	9	6	8	8	9	9	8	10	9	6	7	6	7	7	7	7
Large family	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	5	3
Older smaller	6	3	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	3	3	4	3	3	2	3	2	2	3
Single adult	36	35	40	35	37	36	35	34	33	30	31	31	31	33	32	32	33	35	35	37
Single parent	6	8	8	9	8	10	9	9	7	8	8	9	9	10	9	9	9	9	8	5
Single pensioner	8	7	6	7	6	5	5	7	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	5	5	5
Small adult	21	21	21	21	22	25	24	27	26	30	32	27	25	27	29	29	29	27	26	27
Small family	9	10	9	9	10	11	10	8	10	10	10	11	12	13	12	13	12	11	12	12
As approximate number of private rented households:
Large adult	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	20,000
Large family	10,000	10,000	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	10,000
Older smaller	10,000	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
Single adult	40,000	40,000	60,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	70,000	60,000	70,000	80,000	80,000	100,000	100,000	110,000	110,000	130,000	130,000	130,000
Single parent	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	20,000
Single pensioner	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000
Small adult	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	60,000	60,000	80,000	70,000	70,000	90,000	90,000	100,000	100,000	100,000	90,000	90,000
Small family	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000	40,000
Base	750	850	920	890	890	1,040	1,130	1,150	1,070	1,110	1,330	1,420	1,460	1,250	1,270	1,300	1,330	1,390	1,360	1,250
For each household composition category, private rented households as a proportion of all households:
Large adult	5	6	5	7	6	4	6	7	8	8	9	10	9	8	10	9	10	11	11	11
Large family	4	4	3	4	4	5	5	4	7	6	5	7	10	9	9	10	12	11	13	7
Older smaller	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	3
Single adult	12	12	16	13	14	15	16	15	17	16	16	19	20	23	23	23	23	25	25	24
Single parent	6	9	9	10	9	12	12	12	13	16	16	20	21	25	22	24	26	27	24	16
Single pensioner	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	3	4	3	4	3	4	4	3	4	4	5	5	5
Small adult	6	7	8	7	8	10	11	12	13	15	16	17	16	20	22	23	21	20	20	19
Small family	3	4	4	4	4	5	6	5	7	7	8	10	11	14	13	14	14	14	14	14
All types of households	5	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	9	9	10	11	11	13	13	14	14	15	15	14
Base	14,680	15,550	15,570	15,070	14,880	15,940	15,400	15,620	13,410	13,810	14,190	14,210	14,360	10,640	10,650	10,630	10,330	10,470	10,680	10,530

Table 3.17: Economic situation of adults in private rented households, by year
Column percentages and households estimates, 1999 to 2018 data

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Estimated number of households in the private rented sector	120,000	120,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	160,000	170,000	180,000	210,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	270,000	320,000	320,000	330,000	350,000	370,000	360,000	340,000
Estimated number of children	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	70,000	60,000	80,000	80,000	80,000	100,000	120,000	140,000	120,000	130,000	150,000	150,000	150,000	120,000
Estimated number of adults	200,000	210,000	220,000	230,000	230,000	260,000	290,000	300,000	360,000	370,000	420,000	450,000	460,000	530,000	550,000	560,000	590,000	610,000	620,000	570,000
Estimated number of people	240,000	260,000	270,000	290,000	290,000	320,000	360,000	350,000	440,000	450,000	500,000	550,000	580,000	670,000	670,000	690,000	740,000	750,000	770,000	690,000
Economic situation of adults (percentages of all adults in private rented households):
Self employed	6	6	5	6	5	5	6	5	7	5	5	5	6	8	6	6	7	8	6	7
Employed full time	34	34	37	32	37	41	37	40	41	42	40	38	40	40	44	44	44	41	41	45
Employed part time	8	6	6	5	8	7	7	8	7	9	10	9	10	9	8	7	9	8	9	7
Looking after the home or family	5	6	8	9	9	8	10	8	8	9	6	7	6	6	8	7	7	8	7	5
Permanently retired from work	10	8	9	8	7	7	8	8	6	6	7	5	6	6	5	5	5	6	6	6
Unemployed and seeking work	8	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	4	9	11	6	7	7	5	6	5	4	5
At school	-	2	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
In further / higher education	22	27	22	27	22	19	21	20	19	20	19	21	20	17	17	21	18	20	20	18
Gov't work or training scheme	1	0	0	0	0	1	-	0	0	0	0	0	-	0	0	-	-	0	0	-
Permanently sick or disabled	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	3	2	3	4	3	2	2	2	4	4
Unable to work because of short-term illness or injury	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1
Other	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	0
As approximate number of adults in private rented households:
Self employed	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	40,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	50,000	40,000	40,000
Employed full time	70,000	70,000	80,000	70,000	80,000	110,000	110,000	120,000	150,000	150,000	170,000	170,000	180,000	210,000	240,000	250,000	260,000	250,000	250,000	260,000
Employed part time	20,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	40,000
Looking after the home or family	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	50,000	40,000	40,000	50,000	40,000	30,000
Permanently retired from work	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	30,000
Unemployed and seeking work	20,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	40,000	50,000	30,000	40,000	40,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	20,000	30,000
At school	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
In further / higher education	40,000	60,000	50,000	60,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	60,000	70,000	80,000	80,000	90,000	90,000	90,000	90,000	120,000	100,000	120,000	130,000	100,000
Gov't work or training scheme	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Permanently sick or disabled	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000
Unable to work because of short-term illness or injury	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10,000	-	-	10,000	10,000
Other	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Base	700	790	870	820	830	960	1,030	1,040	960	980	1,150	1,230	1,300	1,160	1,160	1,180	1,200	1,270	1,250	1,160
For each economic status category, private rented adults as a proportion of all adults:
Self employed	6	7	6	8	6	8	9	7	11	9	8	10	11	16	13	15	17	18	15	15
Employed full time	5	5	6	5	6	7	7	8	9	10	11	12	12	14	15	16	17	16	16	16
Employed part time	4	3	4	3	5	4	5	6	6	8	9	9	10	11	10	9	12	12	12	10
Looking after the home or family	3	4	6	7	7	8	12	9	11	13	11	14	14	16	18	20	18	21	20	16
Permanently retired from work	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3
Unemployed and seeking work	9	8	11	11	9	10	14	11	12	11	17	20	13	17	17	15	24	19	17	18
At school	.	5	3	4	2	4	2	3	3	2	5	4	9	7	8	8	9	9	16	7
In further / higher education	26	35	32	32	29	29	34	33	31	38	38	40	40	42	41	49	46	48	56	45
Gov't work or training scheme	11	1	7	3	4	20	-	4	16	10	13	7	-	26	27	-	-	26	62	.
Permanently sick or disabled	4	4	5	4	5	6	6	5	8	6	6	4	8	11	10	8	9	8	13	11
Unable to work because of short-term illness or injury	10	6	7	11	10	14	6	7	9	9	12	10	12	24	6	20	11	13	27	21
Other (specify)	3	10	3	4	9	10	11	10	7	7	3	17	17	20	28	11	5	28	-	3
All adults	5	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	9	9	10	11	11	13	13	13	14	14	15	13
Base	13,780	14,560	14,640	14,040	13,970	14,780	14,070	14,190	12,240	12,370	12,540	12,440	12,890	9,890	9,920	9,800	9,410	9,640	9,810	9,700

Table 3.18: Length of time at address in private rented households, by year
Column percentages and households estimates, 1999 to 2018 data

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Estimated households in the sector	120,000	120,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	160,000	170,000	180,000	210,000	210,000	240,000	260,000	270,000	320,000	320,000	330,000	350,000	370,000	360,000	340,000
Estimated number of children	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	70,000	60,000	80,000	80,000	80,000	100,000	120,000	140,000	120,000	130,000	150,000	150,000	150,000	120,000
Estimated number of adults	200,000	210,000	220,000	230,000	230,000	260,000	290,000	300,000	360,000	370,000	420,000	450,000	460,000	530,000	550,000	560,000	590,000	610,000	620,000	570,000
Estimated number of people	240,000	260,000	270,000	290,000	290,000	320,000	360,000	350,000	440,000	450,000	500,000	550,000	580,000	670,000	670,000	690,000	740,000	750,000	770,000	690,000
Length of time at current address (percentages of all adults in private rented households):
Less than one year	46	45	48	52	46	47	46	45	49	47	39	42	42	44	40	44	43	41	35	39
1 to 2 years	23	27	25	21	30	26	26	27	28	28	30	30	29	29	30	27	28	27	32	28
3 to 4 years	11	11	10	11	7	9	11	11	10	8	10	11	13	13	14	14	14	15	15	14
5 to 10 years	9	7	7	7	8	9	9	9	7	9	9	10	9	9	10	10	10	12	12	12
11 to 20 years	6	5	5	4	5	4	4	4	3	5	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	5
More than 20 years	6	4	4	5	4	4	3	3	4	3	7	3	3	1	3	2	2	2	2	3
As approximate number of adults in private rented households:
Less than one year	90,000	100,000	110,000	120,000	110,000	120,000	130,000	140,000	180,000	170,000	170,000	190,000	190,000	230,000	220,000	240,000	250,000	250,000	220,000	220,000
1 to 2 years	50,000	60,000	50,000	50,000	70,000	70,000	80,000	80,000	100,000	100,000	130,000	140,000	140,000	150,000	160,000	150,000	170,000	160,000	200,000	160,000
3 to 4 years	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	50,000	60,000	70,000	80,000	80,000	80,000	90,000	90,000	80,000
5 to 10 years	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	50,000	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	60,000	70,000	80,000	70,000
11 to 20 years	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	30,000
More than 20 years	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	30,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000
Average time at current address	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	5.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Base	700	790	870	820	830	960	1,030	1,040	960	980	1,150	1,230	1,300	1,160	1,160	1,180	1,200	1,270	1,250	1,160
Average time (years) - urban areas	3.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Base	410	500	540	520	520	620	690	730	640	650	780	840	890	800	810	810	840	910	920	820
Average time (years) - small towns	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	3.0
Base	70	90	110	80	90	90	100	100	80	120	120	130	140	150	140	150	150	160	130	120
Average time (years) - rural areas	8.0	6.0	9.0	9.0	7.0	8.0	8.0	7.0	7.0	10.0	9.0	7.0	7.0	6.0	7.0	6.0	5.0	6.0	7.0	7.0
Base	230	210	210	210	220	250	240	220	240	220	260	210	270	210	210	220	210	200	200	220
Tenure of previous address* (percentages of all adults in private rented households):
Owned outright	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	2	2	3	4	3	1	4	5	5	4
Buying with help of loan/mortgage	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	8	6	7	10	11	9	8	7	8	6
Private Rented	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	56	57	54	53	55	52	56	55	55	61
Rent – Local authority	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	4	3	5	4	5	5	3	2	3	2
Rent - Housing association/Coop/Charitable trust	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	2	2	2
Other	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	3	2	3	5	3	4	4	3	3	4
In parental/family home	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	24	28	26	23	21	27	24	26	24	20
As approximate number of adults in private rented households:
Owned outright	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
Buying with help of loan/mortgage	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000	10,000
Private Rented	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	90,000	110,000	100,000	120,000	120,000	130,000	140,000	140,000	120,000	140,000
Rent – Local authority	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	-
Rent - Housing association/Coop/Charitable trust	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10,000	-	-	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
In parental/family home	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	40,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000	70,000	60,000	60,000	50,000	40,000
Base	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	450	500	510	460	450	480	460	470	430	410

* asked of those who have lived at their current address for less than one year