Scottish Household Survey 2022: Key Findings

1. Housing

Scottish Household Survey results for 2022 have been assessed to be comparable in the most part to 2019 and earlier years. However, the 2022 results for tenure (numbers and percentages of households in each housing tenure category – tables 1.1 and 1.2) should be treated with caution, as there is evidence to suggest that social rented and private rented households may be slightly under-represented in the 2022 achieved sample. Further detail is provided in the methodology report and relevant data tables, and summarised below.

The SHS results suggest that the proportion of households in the social rented sector increased from 22% (550,000 households) in 2017 to 24% (590,000 households) in 2019, then decreased to 22% (560,000 households) in 2022. Social housing dwelling stock administrative data (published by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Housing Regulator) indicates that the percentage of dwellings in the social rented sector was stable (at 24%) from 2017 to 2022, and that the number increased from 593,840 in 2017 to 600,083 in 2019 and 618,448 in 2022 (matching the growth in total dwelling stock).

The SHS results suggest that the proportion of households in the private rented sector decreased from 15% (360,000 households) in 2017 to 14% (340,000 households) in 2019 and 13% (320,000 households) in 2022. Administrative data on the size of the private rental sector from properties registered as part of the Scottish Landlord Register indicates a similar decrease – from 15% (361,884 households) in 2017 to 14% (342,425 households) in 2019 and 13% (338,237 households) in 2022.

The summary results presented in this housing section generally focus on describing key characteristics of households within each housing tenure in the latest year. These findings are unlikely to have been affected by the potential under-representation of social rented and private rented households in the achieved sample.

Characteristics of households by tenure

Owned outright properties:

• Most properties were houses (83%, Table 1.7).
• Nearly seven in ten (69%) had a highest income householder who was aged 60 or over (Table 1.6).
• Around half (50%) contained adults who had lived at their address for more than 20 years (Table 1.26).
• Almost 9 in 10 (86%) contained adults who did not expect to move from their current property in the future (Table 1.31).
• Almost two-thirds (64%) of households stated that they manage well financially, a figure higher than all other tenures (Table 3.5).

Owned with a mortgage or loan:

• Almost eight in 10 (79%) were houses (Table 1.7).
• The majority (91%) had a highest income householder who was aged under 60 (Table 1.6).
• Four in 10 (40%) contained children (Table 1.12).
• Nearly nine in ten (87%) of adults were employed, higher than the proportion of employed adults in all other tenures (Table 1.25).
• Over eight in 10 (83%) households had a net annual household income of more than £25,000 (Table 1.15), and 58% of households stated that they manage well financially (Table 3.5), whilst 2% reported to have had difficulty paying the mortgage in the last 12 months.

Private rented properties:

• Over three in five (65%) were flats (Table 1.7).
• The majority were in urban areas (54% in large urban areas and 29% in other urban areas) (Table 1.9).
• Nearly six in 10 (58%) of adults had lived at their address for two years or less (Table 1.26).
• Just over half (52%) of adults recorded their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’, which is lower than all other tenures (Table 1.17). More than one in 10 (14%) recorded their ethnicity as White 'Other' (i.e. not White Scottish, Other British, or Polish) and 10% recorded their ethnicity as Asian, figures which are both higher than other tenures.
• Just over half rented direct from a landlord (55%) as opposed to through a letting agent, falling to 44% of households in which the respondent had been living at that address for under a year (Table 1.71).
• Almost eight in 10 paid a deposit when they started to rent their property (79%), rising to almost nine in 10 (88%) for households in which the respondent had been living at that address for under a year (Table 1.73).
• Four in 10 (40%) of households stated that they manage well financially, with 4% reporting to have had difficulty paying the rent in the last 12 months (Table 3.5).

Social rented properties (local authority and housing association properties):

• Almost half (49%) of local authority properties and over six in 10 (62%) of housing association properties were flats (Table 1.7).
• Over four in 10 (43%) of local authority properties and over half (53%) of housing association homes were in the 20% most deprived areas (Table 1.8).
• Around six in 10 adults were not in employment (57% for local authority households and 56% for housing association households). (Table 1.25). The proportion of adults in social rented properties who were permanently sick or disabled was higher than those in all other tenure types (15% of social rented properties compared to between one and 4% in other tenures), and a further 7% were unemployed and seeking work.
• 24% of social rented households stated that they manage well financially, a figure lower than all other tenures (Table 3.5). 7% reported to have had difficulty paying the rent in the last 12 months.
• Almost six in 10 adults stated that they would prefer to remain in social rented accommodation (58%). Around a third (34%) would most like to live in owner occupier accommodation (Table 1.32).

Households on housing lists

Around one in 10 (11%) of households living in a social rented property in 2022 were on a housing list to move to another social rented property (Table 1.50). A further 2% of social rented households had applied for social housing using a choice based letting system or similar within the last year (Table 1.53). This compares to 7% of households in the private rented sector being on a housing list (with less than 1% having applied using a choice based system), and 1% of owner occupier households being on a housing list (with 0% having applied using a choice based system) (Table 1.50).

This equates to an estimated total of 100,000 (4%) of all households reporting to be on a housing list in 2022, with a further 10,000 (0.4%) of households having applied for social housing using a choice based letting system or similar within the last year.

Of the households on a housing list in 2022, around two thirds (65%. Table 1.56) were on a single list and over half (53%) had been on a housing list for three years or less (Table 1.57).

For social rented households on a housing list to move to another social rented property, the main reported reasons were to move to a bigger or smaller property (32%), to move to a different area due to anti-social or safety concerns (11%), and to move to a property with ground floor access (10%). For private rented households on a housing list, the main reasons were that they could not afford current housing or would like cheaper housing (24%), to move to a bigger or smaller property (15%), to move to a better area (12%), and being threatened with homelessness (12%) (Table 1.59).

Satisfaction with housing and rating of neighbourhood as a place to live

Around nine in 10 households (91%) reported that they were very or fairly satisfied with their housing in 2022 (Table 1.40), with 51% being very satisfied and 39% being fairly satisfied, similar proportions to 2019.

This differs between tenures, with 95% of owner occupier households being either very or fairly satisfied with their housing, compared to 88% of households in the private rented sector and 79% of households in social rented homes.

Over nine in ten households (95%) rated their neighbourhood as either a very or fairly good place to live (Table 1.41), with 88% of social rented households responding with this rating, compared to 95% of private rented households and 97% of owner occupier households.