Trends in duration of housing occupancy
26 April 2023
- Around one-fifth (20.5%) of private renters have lived in their home for less than 1 year, compared to 5.8% of social renters and 1.8% of owner-occupiers.
- This partly reflects the life stages of people in each tenure. However, growing numbers of people are raising families in the private-rented sector. Instability can pose a problem for children’s health and other outcomes.
There is an association between frequently moving home and poorer health, including mental health issues and other health conditions. This may be due to the factors that contribute to people moving homes, such as economic insecurity, as well as the moving process itself.
This chart shows the proportion of households that have lived in their current home for less than a year by tenure over time.
The percentage of private renters living in their home for less than a year has been decreasing, while at the same time there has been a rise in households renting privately – including families.
- The proportion of private renters moving after 1 year has seen the biggest change over the past 10 years, dropping by 15 percentage points, although it remains quite high at 20.5%
- The proportion of social renters and owner-occupiers who have moved home in the last year has remained broadly constant over the past decade at around 2% and 6–8% respectively.
- The gap between private renters and owner-occupiers has narrowed by 15 percentage points in the past 10 years.
A high turnover of housing is not necessarily a problem, as it can reflect different life stages, such as for students and younger adults. However, the much higher turnover of the private rented sector is partly explained by non-voluntary moves. Other Health Foundation work on housing shows that 11% of moves are due to notices from landlords, while 6% stem from problems with housing conditions, payment or problems with landlords.
While the stability of the private rented sector has improved, it still has considerable turnover and is home to more family types, such as families with children, that would previously have lived in more secure forms of accommodation. Some policy moves have aimed to reflect the changing composition of the tenure, such as the government’s plans to abolish no-fault evictions under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act. Alternative models, such as longer default tenancies, should also be explored.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Survey of English Housing (1994/95–2007/08) and English Housing Survey (2008/09–2020/21)
