Housing in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia Housing in the United Kingdom This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. Please help us clarify the article. There might be a discussion about this on the talk page. ( February 2016 ) The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. ( January 2016 ) Housing in the United Kingdom ranks in the top half of EU countries. However the increasing cost of housing is leading many to claim there is a `` housing crisis ''. Most though still find the UK a desirable place to live. London is resident to the highest number of ultra-high - net - worth individuals in the world. For some this is a cause for concern as it is leading to gentrification. The average house costs £ 290,000 to buy ( September 2015 ), has 2.8 bedrooms, and is semi-detached. Housing represents the largest non-financial asset in the UK with a net value of £ 5.1 trillion ( 2014 ). Contents 1 History 1.1 Victorian era 1.2 1900 -- 1939 1.3 Post 1940 2 Demography 3 Construction history 4 Purchase price of a dwelling 4.1 The London effect 4.2 Desirability of rising house prices 5 Rent for a dwelling ( generation rent ) 6 Homelessness 7 Overcrowding 8 Housing Quality 8.1 Physical Quality 8.2 Social quality 8.2. 1 Symmetrical tenancy agreements 8.2. 2 Socially Segregated housing 9 Cost of Home Heating ( Energy Efficiency ) 9.1 Government policies for improving home energy efficiency 10 Empty homes 10.1 London 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 13.1 Historiography History Victorian era The very rapid growth in population in the 19th century in the cities included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service centers such as Edinburgh and London. The critical factor was financing, which was handled by building societies that dealt directly with large contracting firms. Private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure. P. Kemp says this was usually of advantage to tenants. People moved in so rapidly that there was not enough capital to build adequate housing for everyone, so low income newcomers squeezed into increasingly overcrowded slums. Clean water, sanitation, and public health facilities were inadequate ; the death rate was high, especially infant mortality, and tuberculosis among young adults. 1900 -- 1939 The rapid expansion of housing was a major success story of the interwar years, 1919 -- 1939, standing in sharp contrast to the United States, where new housing construction practically collapsed after 1929. The total housing stock in England and Wales was 7.6 million in 1911 ; 8.0 million in 1921 ; 9.4 million in 1931 ; and 11.3 million in 1939. The private sector rental market provided 90 percent of the housing before the war. Now came under heavy pressure, regarding rent controls, and the inability of owners to evict tenants, except for nonpayment of rent. The tenants had a friend in Prime Minister Lloyd George, and especially in the increasingly powerful Labour Party. The private rental sector went into a prolonged decline and never recovered ; by 1938, it covered only 58 percent Of the housing stock. Becontree housing estate built in the 1920s in London suburbs A decisive change in policy was marked by the Tudor Walters Report of 1918 ; it set the standards for council house design and location for the next 90 years. It recommended housing in short terraces, spaced at 70 feet ( 21 m ) at a density of 12 to the acre. With the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1919 Prime Minister David Lloyd George set up a system of government housing that followed his 1918 campaign promises of `` homes fit for heroes. '' Called the `` Addison Act, '' it required local authorities to survey their housing needs, and start building houses to replace slums. The treasury subsidized the low rents. The immediate impact was the prevalence of the three - bedroom house, with kitchen, bath, parlor, electric lighting, and gas cooking, often built as subsidized council housing. Major cities such as London and Birmingham built large - scale housing estates -- one in Birmingham had a population of 30,000. The houses were built in blocks of two or four Using brick or stucco, with two stories. They were set back from curving streets ; each had a long garden strip. Shopping centers, churches and pubs sprang up nearby. Eventually The city would provide a community hall, schools, and a public library. The residents typically were the upper fifth stratum of the working class. The largest of these two communities was Becontree in the outer suburbs of London, where construction began in 1921 and by 1932 there were 22,000 houses holding 103,000 residents. Slum clearance now moved from being a public health issue, to a matter of town planning. Liberal MP Sir John Tudor Walters was inspired by the garden city movement, calling for spacious low - density developments and semi-detached houses built to a high construction standard. Older women could now vote. Local politicians consulted with them and in response put more emphasis on such amenities as communal laundromats, extra bedrooms, indoor lavatories, running hot water, separate parlours to demonstrate their respectability, and practical vegetable gardens rather than manicured yards. The housewives had had their fill of chamber pots. Progress was not automatic, as shown by the troubles of rural Norfolk. Many dreams were shattered as local authorities had to renege on promises they could not fulfill due to undue haste, impossible national deadlines, debilitating bureaucracy, lack of lumber, rising costs, and the non-affordability of rents by the rural poor. In England and Wales, 214,000 multi-unit council buildings were built by 1939 ; making the Ministry of Health largely a ministry of housing. Council housing accounted for 10 percent of the housing stock in Britain by 1938, peaking at 32 percent in 1980, and dropping to 18 percent by 1996, where it held steady for the next two decades. Increasing the British ideal was home ownership, even among the working class. Rates of home ownership rose steadily from 15 percent before 1914, to 32 percent by 1938, and 67 percent by 1996. Local building societies were primarily responsible. In the 1920s favourable tax policies encouraged substantial investment in the societies, creating huge reserves for lending. Beginning in 1927, the societies encouraged borrowing through gradual liberalization of mortgage terms. The fierce debates over high - rise housing that took place after 1945 were presaged by an acrimonious debate in the 1920s and 1930s in London. It pitted enthusiastic advocates and angry critics of multistorey flats for social housing. On the political left, there was firm opposition to what was denounced as ' barracks for the working classes '. Reformers on the right called for multi-story solutions to overcrowding and high rents. One result were attempts to compromise by developing new solutions to urban living, focused especially on slum clearance and redevelopment schemes. The compromises generally sought to replace inhospitable slums with high - rise blocks served by lifts. In the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney they included John Scurr House ( built 1936 -- 1937 ), Riverside Mansions ( 1925 -- 1928 ) and the Limehouse Fields project ( 1925 but never built ). Post 1940 Housing was a critical shortage in the postwar era. Air raids had destroyed a half million housing units ; repairs and maintenance on undamaged had been postponed. In all 3 million new dwellings were needed. The government aimed for 300,000 annually, compared to the maximum prewar rate of 350,000. However, there were shortages of construction workers, materials, and money. Not counting 150,000 temporary prefabricated units, the nation was still 1.5 million units short by 1951. Legislation kept rents down, but did not affect purchased houses. The ambitious New Towns project was idealistic, but did not provide enough urgently needed units. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1951, they made housing a high priority and oversaw 2.5 million new units, two thirds of them through local councils. Haste made for dubious quality, and policy increasingly shifted toward renovation rather than new construction. Slums were cleared, opening the way for gentrification in the inner cities. Working - class families proved eager to purchase their council homes when the Thatcher government offered a good financial bargain in the 1980s. Demography See also : Architecture of the United Kingdom Typical housing in a UK city In early 2014 there were approximately 23 million dwellings in England, of which 63 % were owner - occupied, 20 % were private rented, and 17 % were public housing. The overall mean number of bedrooms was 2.8 in 2013 -- 14, 37 % of households had at least two spare bedrooms. 20 % of dwellings were built before 1919 and 15 % were built post 1990. 29 % of all dwellings are terraced, 42 % are detached or semi-detached, and the remaining 29 % are bungalows or flats. The mean floor area is 95 square meters. Approximately 4 % of all dwellings were vacant. Approximately 385,000 households reported a fire between 2012 and 2014, the majority of which were caused by cooking. In 2014 2.6 million households moved dwelling, the majority of which ( 74 % ) were renters. Construction history See also : Slum Clearance in the UK and Construction industry of the United Kingdom Housing starts in England 1969 - 2016 The Labour government suspected that there might be supply - side problems in the construction sector, and in 2006 commissioned the Callcutt Review of House Building Delivery, which was published in 2007. The Callcutt report noted the failure of the home building industry to increase the supply in response to price signals. There was a fall in the numbers of house completions after the 2008 recession, but by 2015 it was back up to 169,000. Purchase price of a dwelling Main article : Affordability of housing in the United Kingdom UK housing affordability in terms of take home pay In 1950, in 2012 pounds, the average dwelling cost was £ 50,000 versus £ 75,000 in 2012. In September 2015 the average house price was £ 286,000, and affordability of housing as measured by price to earnings ratio was 5.3. The London effect There is concern that councils in central London are aggravating the housing crises by pursuing policies of gentrification. 18 - 19 Kensington Palace Gardens, purchased in 2004 for £ 67 million by Lakshmi Mittal. London is ranked as the top city in the world in terms of the number of ultra high net worth individuals who are resident in a city. The consequence of this is seen in the high price for top - end dwellings. The most expensive home ever sold in the UK was 2 to 8a Rutland Gate, Hyde Park, which sold for £ 280 million in 2015. The most expensive street in the UK is Kensington Palace Gardens, London, where the average price of a home is approximately £ 42 million. See below for further information on the extent of London property kept empty by speculators. Desirability of rising house prices Dwellings represent the largest non-financial asset in the UK balance sheet, with a net worth of £ 5.1 trillion ( 2014 ). In the national statistics rising house prices are regarded as adding to GDP and thus a cause of economic growth. Historically, the assumption in the media and elsewhere was that rising house prices were a good thing. There is evidence that the public no longer share this view. Rent for a dwelling ( generation rent ) See also : Public housing in the United Kingdom Nearly two out of five households rent their home. In 2014 most rented dwellings where provided by private landlords. The proportion of dwellings rented from of the private rented sector is increasing, whilst the public sector is declining. In the financial year 2014, the private rented sector increased by 123,000 dwellings, and the public sector declined by 9,000 dwellings. Rental costs in England from 2010 to 2017, indexed to 2010. In the UK there is no property tax based on ownership, which many other OECD countries have. High rents have not just affected those in the lower half of the income distribution. who always been lifelong renters. In the era of the Keynes -- Beveridge consensus those in the upper half of the income distribution would typically rent a home while saving for deposit to get on the property ladder. This is no longer possible ; money which would have been used in saving for the deposit now goes in rent. The majority of new households formed in the UK can now expect to rent from a private landlord for life. This phenomenon has been called generation rent and there is much debate about the social consequence of this change. See inequality for further information. In London, rents are double the national average and this is driving gentrification. Londoners on median earnings find they can no longer afford to rent an apartment in central London. Those on median incomes, who work in central London have had to move to the outer suburbs, and the commuting towns in SE England. Many find, that commuting using London 's congested transport infrastructure lowers their standard of living, and is disruptive of family life. Homelessness Main article : Homelessness in the United Kingdom In June 2015 there were approximately 67,000 households in England in temporary accommodation. In autumn 2014 there were around 2,400 rough sleepers in England, 27 % of which were in London. Overcrowding The consequence of the housing shortage and high rents manifests itself in overcrowding rather than In homelessness, The problem of over crowding is especially acute in London. In 2011 it was estimated that there were 391,000 children in London living in overcrowded conditions. Between 1995 - 1996 to 2013 - 2014 overcrowding, as measured by the bedroom standard increased from 63,000 households to 218,000 households. The bedroom standard understates overcrowding. It does not include potential household units forced to live in the same dwelling. For example, divorced couples living in the same dwelling, adult children being unable to form own household but having to live with their parents. It has not proved possible to find statistics on the true extent of overcrowding. A report issued by the Deputy Prime Minister 's Office reviewed the evidence that overcrowding, in addition to the known impacts on physical health, adversely effects mental health, and child development. Housing quality It is useful to consider housing quality under two sub headings physical and social. In the era of Beveridge Consensus there where large scale slum clearance projects. Council environmental health officers inspected dwellings in a borough and those which failed to meet standards were compulsorily purchased for a nominal sum and demolished. New dwellings were built to rehouse the slum dwellers. Slum clearance significantly improved the physical quality of the UK housing stock. But in a seminal study Family and Kinship in East London it was found that although the physical quality of the housing had improved, its social quality had deteriorated. The residents of apartments in tower blocks appreciated their clean, warm, bright new apartments, but missed the supportive community networks of the slums. Physical quality Undocumented migrants, as they fear being deported, are easily exploited, and do not report housing conditions which constitute a public health risk. This means that the extent of the problem is not known. Although overall the quality of English housing stock has improved over the last thirty years ( a generation ), the quality of housing for new households formed from those at or below the median income has declined. Thirty years ago a new household in this group could rent a council house built to Parker Morris standard. In 2016, a new household from this group, has to rent from a private landlord a dwelling, which will have less space than the Parker Morris standard dwelling, and likely to be damp, and they pay in real terms, at least three time the rent of their parent 's generation. Jessica McLean was a tenant who complained about a dwelling and claimed that she was evicted due to this. Social quality For many people the social life their home enables is as important as the physical conditions the home provides. There is a debate about whether the generation born in the 1980s are better or worse off than their parents. Some economists claim living standards have improved for what has been called generation X, whilst others hold they have declined. The economist point to fourfold growth in the nation 's GDP, an increase GDP per capita, and an increase median earnings. Those who content that there has been a fall living standards for generation X, say that increasing GDP per capita can be, and is in the UK, associated with a declining quality of life. And that housing conditions of Generation X has made their standard of living far lower than that of their parents. They claim that the two major cause of decline in the social environment provided by housing are : symmetrical tenancy agreements and socially segregated housing developments. Symmetrical tenancy agreements Nearly all dwellings are let using Shorthold Assured Tenanc y agreements. There is a short period, typically six months or a year, where neither side can terminate the agreement. After this period, both sides can terminate the agreement at a months notice. There is evidence, that main the beneficiary of the symmetrical tenancy agreements have been UK landlords, as it has enabled rents rise not only faster than the RPI, but also far faster than wages. In 2015 private sector rents in the UK rose by 4.9 % with particular large rises in Brighton and Bristol whilst earnings growth in the UK was 2.9 %. Factors which lower the social quality of housing such as : homelessness and fear of homeless, and transient unfriendly neighborhoods have been attributed to symmetrical tenancy agreement. Evidence of the comparative insecurity in the private rental sector is, is provided by the statistics on recent movers. In the year 2013, for every 1,000 residents, 340 of those in the private rented sector would move, compared with 5 owner occupiers, and 9 in the public rented sector. Socially segregated housing Typical multistory block gated development. 2015 price for 2 bed apartment £ 380,000. The current position is that in London, only UK citizens who are top earners, are in the market to become home owners. In London, the effective demand for new dwellings now comes from property investors, not those hoping to become owner occupiers. Property investors, are not primarily interested in whether a dwelling unit provides a good social environment for a family. The investor is looking for standardized dwelling units which can provide a good rental income and predictable maintenance costs. This has reduced the demand for three bedrooms houses with gardens, which are normally consider to provide the ideal family homes, instead the demand is for apartments in multi-story blocks. In London, many such apartments are marketed too, and bought by foreign investors. The ideal unit for such investors, is in a gated development with a tower block of apartments, with car parking instead of gardens. Standardized dwellings units are desirable as they can be traded on the global market like any other commodity. There is evidence that gated developments intensify social segregation, and rather than preventing crime they create fear of crime. The residents of the gated development become fearful of those living outside of their secured space and only leave the development by car. They are too fearful to walk out of it and socialize with their neighbours outside. Semidetached council houses. 3 Beds, front / back garden. built 1950s, cost to council £ ( 2012 ) 55,000. Having separate estates for owner occupiers and council tenants reinforced class divisions and class stereotyping. There were residents on owner occupier estates who call those who lived on council estates ' common ' meaning they were social inferiors, and there were residents in council estates who would call those lived in owner occupied estates ' snobs ' meaning they people who were to proud to socialize with those they considered their social inferiors. Due to limited social interaction between owner occupiers and council tenants there is much scope for misunderstanding. Cost of home heating ( energy efficiency ) Main article : Energy efficiency in British housing UK homes are some of the most expensive to heat in Europe, which results in high levels of fuel poverty ( for further information see Fuel poverty in the United Kingdom ). The problem results from age of the housing stock with most dwellings being built prior to oil shock of 1973, after which insulation standards for newly build housing improved. The UK dwellings have the oldest age profile in the EU with over 60 % being built before 1960, and with only just over 10 % being built between 1991 - 2010. The graph above on the history of construction of new dwellings shows this age profile is a consequence of the reduction in the number of in new dwellings build per year after 1979. There is a particular problem with dwellings built before World War I ( 1914 - 1918 ), which are now over hundred years old. The terraced houses of this period, build for sale to the buy to let investors of the time, are particular difficult to insulate. These dwellings were built for heating by open coal fires, and had large drafty windows to allow the fire to draw. They have very small rooms and have solid walls with a single tier of bricks. This structure makes wall insulation expensive and in many cases impractical. Many of the dwellings of this type were replaced by council houses in the post war slum clearance program, but with the ending of public sector building of dwellings this route for improving the energy efficient of the housing stock ended. There also insulation problems in the pre-1914 large houses built for the top decile of the time. These houses were built with servant quarters in the roof space. Most such houses have been converted into blocks of flats and sold to buy to let investors. These flats are difficult to insulate, especial the top floor flat in the roof space. The expense of insulation means that it is not often not cost effective for the landlord to insulate such dwellings. This is especially true in London, where due to the housing crisis, landlords can let a property in poor condition, and consequently improving the energy efficiency of a dwelling is not a priority for buy to let investors. There is also a problem in that only half the poorly insulated dwelling in the private rental sector use central heating, instead using more expensive electrical heaters. Government policies for improving home energy efficiency See also : The Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation To encourage home insulation the governments introduced The Green Deal, the Energy Company Obligation, and Energy Performance Certificates ( EPCs ). The Green Deal does not offer any subsidies or grants for home insulation. Instead a new type of loan is provided which is attached to the property rather than the individual who takes out the loan. The purchaser of property becomes liable for the loan taken out to insulate the property. The Green Deal policy has met substantial criticism. In 2013, the Telegraph wrote that the high rate of interest charged for loans taken out under the Green Deal will mean there will be insignificant take - up, and hence the policy will be ineffective. The energy company obligation provides means - tested grants for home insulation. The funding for these grants does not come from government taxation. Instead there is legislation that allows the energy utilities to raise a levy on all utility bills to pay for the means - tested insulation grants. In 2015 these charges added about £ 112 to the average utility bill. If the utility fails to spend the money it raises from the levies in insulating the homes of those in fuel poverty, it is fined. There have been problems with the scheme ; utilities have been paying fines rather than providing the insulation. The difficulties the utilities have had are in the low uptake of the grants. There is a particular problem in that most of the people in fuel poverty who are entitled to the grants are in the private rental sector. A tenant who applies for and gets a grant which improves his landlord 's property has no security of tenure. The tenant will not benefit from reduced fuel bills, if the landlord puts up the rent, as the property has been improved. Understandably, tenants in fuel poverty have been reluctant to apply for the grants. The consequence of failure to take up grants is given as one of the reasons the UK is missing carbon reduction targets. UK Home Performance Rating Chart The idea behind EPCs was that if those buying or renting a property are informed about its energy efficiency market forces will lead to better insulated dwellings. To improved the working of the market by providing better informed purchasers, under UK law, whenever a dwelling is built, sold, or rented an EPC is required. An EPC gives an indication of the energy efficiency of a dwelling. The certificates have been criticized as they are based on visual inspection of the property, and examination of documents, and not on measurements of energy use, or the insulation characteristic of the building. It is not possible to calculate the cost of heating a dwelling from its EPC, or the amount of energy which can be saved by insulating a wall, roof or window. There are claims that EPCs are of no real value. It is held that a certificate which can be bought for just £ 34, produced as result of form filling exercise, can not possibility be as useful as a proper energy survey based on measurement. There have been improvements housing in insulation but this is manly in the owner - occupier sector. Between 2001 and 2013 the prevalence of cavity wall insulation of houses which have cavity walls rose from 39 % to 68 %. Over the same period the proportion of fully double - glazed dwellings rose from 51 % to 80 %. It has not proved possible to find evidence that these improvements were the result of government policy or would have happened anyway. If all the recommendations by energy performance certificates were implemented the notional carbon dioxide emissions from UK dwellings could be reduced by over 20 %. Empty homes Number of dwellings in England that have been empty for more than six months ( 2003 -- 2016 ) Percentage of unoccupied dwellings ( including those used only seasonally ) in Europe by country According to official statistics, in October 2015, there were 600,179 vacant dwellings in England, a decline from the 610,123 from a year earlier. Of these vacant dwellings, 203,596 were vacant for more than six months. This, it is believed, is mainly due to financial reasons, such as the owner being unable to sell the house or raise enough money to renovate the property. Empty Dwelling Management Orders ( EMDOs ) allow councils to take over the management of long - term empty properties but these are generally seen as a last resort and only 43 EDMOs were successful from 2006 to 2011. Government statistics show that long - term empty homes are generally concentrated in the North of England and in seaside towns, where property prices are generally lower, with the lowest percentage in London, which had 20,795 long - term empty properties. According to official statistics, the percentage of empty homes in England fell from 3.5 % in 2008 to 2.6 % in 2014. One explanation for this housing transactions have picked up since the financial crisis, and because of government efforts to reduce the number of empty homes. An alternative explanation is that before April 2013 there was an incentive for property owners to report a property as empty, as there was a rebate on council tax for vacant property. And when this incentive was removed, property owners ceased informing the council that their property was empty, and this led to an apparent fall in empty homes reported by official statistics. The number of empty homes includes homes where the previous occupier is in prison, in care, in hospital or recently deceased. The charity Empty Homes argued that empty homes were helping contribute to the housing crisis, saying in a report `` The longer a property is empty the more our housing assets are being wasted. Also, the longer a property lies empty, the more likely it is to deteriorate ; the more it is likely to cost to bring back into use ; and the more it is likely to be seen as a blight by the neighbours. '' London As of 2015, around 1.7 % of homes in London are empty, which is a historically low level. The vacancy rate is much lower for London 's private sector housing compared to the rest of the country, whereas the rates for affordable housing are `` broadly similar ''. Research by Islington Council revealed that nearly a third of new dwellings built did not have anyone on the electoral register after six years, although this may exclude students and foreign tenants. The Observer reported on what has been termed ' lights out London '... ' where absentee owners push up property prices without contributing to the local economy '. A local restaurateur explained the problems this caused, ' my original customers ( have sold to ) non-doms who do not live in their ( property ). In some apartment blocks 20 % were unoccupied... It makes a big difference ( to my business ) '. The Guardian investigated the occupancy and the ownership of the apartments in St Georges Wharf Tower on the south bank of the Thames. The investigation found that 60 % of the apartments were foreign owned, often by companies registered in tax havens. It further found that although there were bedrooms for over 600 people, there were only 60 people registered to vote. Research by the London School of Economics for the Mayor of London found that there was almost no evidence of new build units being left empty, `` certainly less than 1 % '' and that the `` vast majority '' of overseas buyers intended to live in the property or rent it out. See also Building regulations in the United Kingdom Cost of moving in the United Kingdom English land law Land Registry ( United Kingdom ) Mortgage industry of the United Kingdom Public housing in the United Kingdom Real estate in the United Kingdom References Jump up ^ `` OECD Better Life Index ''. www.OECDBetterLifeIndex.org. Retrieved 7 July 2017. 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Telegraph. 12 January 2016. Jump up ^ Collinson, Patrick ( 12 February 2014 ). `` Rising house prices used to be considered good news. Not any more ''. The Guardian. ISSN 0261 - 3077. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/indexofprivatehousingrentalpricesreferencetables Jump up ^ `` Labour has ' moral mission ' to tackle inequality, says Tristram Hunt ''. the Guardian. 7 December 2015. Hunt pointed out that 14 OECD countries -- including the US -- raise a recurring tax on the value of residential property. ( Hunt proposed ) an annual 0.5 % tax upon the value of each property -- less than most countries. ( This would take ) `` generation rent '' completely out of local taxes altogether. Jump up ^ `` Generation rent : only 26 % of young adults will be on housing ladder by 2025 ''. The Guardian. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015. Jump up ^ `` Generation rent : the reluctant rise of the older tenant ''. The Telegraph. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Gentrification is knocking the heart out of my South London neighbourhood ''. METRO. 7 October 2015. Jump up ^ `` London workers £ 300,000 better off living an hour outside capital ''. Telegraph.co.uk. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2016. Jump up ^ `` How to solve the hell of commuting to London ? Readers share their thoughts ''. the Guardian. 17 May 2016. Jump up ^ `` Statutory homelessness in England : April to June 2015 - GOV.UK ''. www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ `` Rough sleeping in England : autumn 2014 - GOV.UK ''. www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ `` The homeless people - a priority need ? - Arkas Law ''. ArkasLaw.co.uk. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ `` No Space at Home : Overcrowding in London '' ( PDF ). 4 in 10 London Children Live in Poverty. Retrieved 11 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` English Housing Survey 2009 / 10, ''. DCLG. July 2011. Jump up ^ `` English Housing Survey Headline Report 2013 - 14 '' ( PDF ). Department of Communities and Local Government. February 2015. p. 32. Jump up ^ `` Generation boomerang : how to cope with grown - up children at home ''. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` The Impact of Overcrowding on Health &Education : '' ( PDF ). Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. May 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` The History of Council Housing ''. fet.uwe.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` The exploitation of migrants has become our way of life ''. The Guardian. 17 August 2015. ISSN 0261 - 3077. Retrieved 1 February 2016. Jump up ^ `` English Housing Survey Headline Report 20130 - 14 '' ( PDF ). February 2015. p. 15, Figure 1.4 Household aged 25 -- 34 by tenure. Jump up ^ `` English Housing Survey Headline Report 2013 - 14 '' ( PDF ). p. 20, Figure 1.8 Mean weekly rents. Jump up ^ `` Generation rent v the landlords : ' They ca n't evict millions of us ' ''. The Guardian. 22 August 2015. Section on Jessica Mclean case. Retrieved 17 January 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` Is the younger generation worse off than their parents ? Economics Help ''. www.economicshelp.org. Retrieved 19 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Model agreement for a shorthold assured tenancy - Publications - GOV.UK ''. www.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Meet the new class of landlords profiting from Generation Rent ''. The Guardian. 28 June 2013. ISSN 0261 - 3077. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Brighton and Bristol tenants hit by 18 % rent rises in 2015 ''. The Guardian. 11 January 2016. ISSN 0261 - 3077. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` UK wage growth hits six - year high, Carney on interest rates - live updates ''. the Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` More people are being made homeless because landlords take their home ''. The Independent. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` English housing survey 2013 to 2014 : headline report - Publications - GOV.UK ''. www.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Jump up ^ ibid, calculated from : Trends in tenure p11, Trends in recent movers p26 Jump up ^ `` Check out this property for sale on Rightmove ! ''. Rightmove.co.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Revealed : Staggering salary Londoners must earn to buy average flat in the capital ''. Evning Standard. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` These are the foreigners ruining our country ''. Telegraph.co.uk. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Foreign buyers bought up £ 100bn of London property in six years ''. Evening Standard. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` The truth about property developers : how they are exploiting planning authorities and ruining our cities ''. The Guardian. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` Through the barricades ''. Telegraph.co.uk. 5 March 2003. Retrieved 22 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Gated communities fuel Blade Runner dystopia and ' profound unhappiness ' ''. The Guardian. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` The social housing stigma : how to fight the stereotyping of social tenants ''. The Guardian. 10 June 2014. ISSN 0261 - 3077. Retrieved 27 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Britain 's damp, leaky homes among Europe 's most costly to heat ''. the Guardian. 29 November 2013. Jump up ^ `` Europe 's Buildings under the microscope. A country by country review of the energy performance of buildings. '' ( PDF ). Buildings Performance Institute Europe ( BPIE ). 1 October 2011. ISBN 9789491143014. Jump up ^ `` English Housing Survey ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF ENGLISH HOUSING 2013 '' ( PDF ). 2013. p. 50. The majority of the least energy efficient homes were the oldest homes, built before 1919 ( 61 % ). These oldest homes were more likely to be of solid wallconstruction, which can more expensive to insulate where required. Jump up ^ `` Energy Efficiency and Historic Buildings - Insulating Solidwalls '' ( PDF ). English Heritage. 1 March 2012. In some cases the technical risks of adding insulation to solid walls will be too great. Jump up ^ `` Energy Efficiency English Housing 2013 '' ( PDF ). p. 49. In 2013, there were around 1.5 million homes ( 6 % ) with the worst energy efficiency. Private rented homes were over represented in this group : Jump up ^ `` Energy Efficiency of English Housing 2013 '' ( PDF )... converted flats formed higher proportions of the least energy efficient homes... whereas purpose built flats were under represented Jump up ^ `` Energy Efficiency English Housing 2013 '' ( PDF ). p. 52. Only half ( 50 % ) of private rented homes with the poorest energy efficiency were centrally heated, and 27 % relied on room heaters for primary heating, the large majority of which were fuelled by electricity, a more expensive optionfor direct heating Jump up ^ `` Buying or selling your home : Energy Performance Certificates - GOV.UK ''. www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ `` Green Deal provider Npower warns scheme 's interest rates are too high ''. Telegraph.co.uk. 31 January 2013. The Government 's flagship Green Deal has suffered a fresh setback as Npower, one of the energy - efficiency programme 's providers, admitted interest rates charged on the scheme were too high. Jump up ^ `` Green levies add £ 112 to energy bills - where does the money go ? ''. Telegraph. 26 January 2015. A sizeable chunk, 9pc or £ 112 over the course of a year, goes toward government - backed green levies. Jump up ^ `` Ofgem fines British Gas £ 11.1 m for missed environmental targets ''. Financial Times. 4 December 2014. ISSN 0307 - 1766. Under the community energy savings programme, British Gas had met only 62.4 per cent of its obligations to deliver energy saving measures to households by the end of 2012. Jump up ^ `` UK off course for post 2020 carbon targets, CCC warns ''. Business Green. 15 July 2014. Jump up ^ `` Buying or selling your home - GOV.UK ''. www.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2016. Jump up ^ `` Do n't waste your energy on eco-certificates ''. The Telegraph. 15 April 2010. Let me tell you why the Energy Performance Certificate ( EPC ) is utterly useless... I ( When getting a certificate ) I told the inspector that since finishing the house we 'd doubled up the insulation in the loft, she said it made no difference to the assessment because it worked on the basis and standard of the building regulations at the time of construction. Jump up ^ Certificates, Energy Performance. `` Energy Performance Certificates UK - Order An EPC Today ''. www.energyperformancecertificates.co.uk. Retrieved 20 June 2016. Get ( an EPC ) from only £ 34 for properties up to 4 bedrooms Jump up ^ `` Do n't waste your energy on eco-certificates ''. Telegraph.co.uk. 15 April 2010. ( EPCs ) just ( provide ) jobs for form fillers. If you want a proper energy survey see a true professional ^ Jump up to : `` English housing survey 2013 : energy efficiency of English housing report ''. www.gov.uk. Department for Communities and Local Government. 1 July 2015. p. 13. Jump up ^ `` Empty homes in England ''. Jump up ^ `` Europa data ''. Select dwellings and then all countries and unoccupied homes Jump up ^ `` Dwelling Stock Estimates : 2015, England '' ( PDF ). ONS. 28 April 2016. Long - term vacant dwellings numbered 203,596 on 5 October 2015, a fall of 2,225 ( 1.1 % ) from 205,821 on 6 October 2014. ^ Jump up to : `` Why are so many British homes empty ? ''. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` Empty Homes in England '' ( PDF ). EmptyHomes.com. Retrieved 6 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` HOUSING IN LONDON 2015 '' ( PDF ). p. 35. Jump up ^ `` Property investors in Islington who leave homes empty could face jai ''. Guardian. 4 December 2014. Jump up ^ `` ' It 's like a ghost town ' : lights go out as foreign owners desert London homes ''. the Guardian. 25 January 2015. Absentee owners and the ' buy to leave ' market are hurting businesses Jump up ^ `` ' It 's like a ghost town ' : lights go out as foreign owners desert London homes ''. the Guardian. 25 January 2015. When ( restaurateur ) Racine opened in 2002 the average price of a Knightsbridge home was £ 745,000 ; now it is £ 3.4 m. ^ Jump up to : `` ' Tower for the toffs ' : UK 's tallest skyscraper and playground of the rich ''. the Guardian. 24 May 2016. The Tower at St George Wharf has 214 flats on 50 floors, costing up to £ 51m... Title deeds show that out 210 properties 54 are owned by people or companies... in tax havens... only 60 people in a building with enough bedrooms to accommodate 10 times more, are registered to vote Jump up ^ `` Politicians condemn 60 % foreign ownership of London skyscraper ''. the Guardian. 25 May 2016. Owners of properties in the high rise include a billionaire Russian oligarch, the chairman of a defunct Nigerian bank and a Kyrgyz vodka tycoon. Jump up ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/house-prices/almost-no-evidence-london-homes-owned-foreign-buyers-left-empty/amp/ Further reading Back, Glenn, and Chris Hamnett. `` State housing policy formation and the changing role of housing associations in Britain. '' Policy & Politics 13.4 ( 1985 ) : 393 - 412. Boddy, Martin. The building societies ( Macmillan, 1980 ). Branson, Noreen, and Margot Heinemann. Britain in the Nineteen Thirties ( 1971 ) pp 180 -- 201. Branson, Noreen. Britain in the Nineteen Twenties ( 1976 ) pp 103 -- 17. Burnett, John. A social history of housing : 1815 - 1985 ( 2nd ed. 1986 ) Clark, Gregory. `` Shelter from the storm : housing and the industrial revolution, 1550 -- 1909. '' Journal of Economic History 62 # 2 ( 2002 ) : 489 - 511. Cowan, David. `` ' This is Mine ! This is Private ! This is where I belong ! ' : Access to Home Ownership. '' in Cowan, ed., Housing Law and Policy ( 1999 ). 326 - 361. Damer, Sean. `` ' Engineers of the human machine ' : The social practice of council housing management in Glasgow, 1895 - 1939. '' Urban Studies 37.11 ( 2000 ) : 2007 - 2026. Dunleavy, Patrick. The politics of mass housing in Britain, 1945 - 1975 : a study of corporate power and professional influence in the welfare state ( Oxford UP < 1981 ). Gauldie, Enid. Cruel habitations : a history of working - class housing 1780 - 1918 ( Allen & Unwin, 1974 ). Ginsburg, Norman. `` The privatization of council housing. '' Critical Social Policy 25.1 ( 2005 ) : 115 - 135. Glynn, Sean, and John Oxborrow. Interwar Britain : A social and economic history ( 1976 ) pp 212 -- 44. Hollow, Matthew. `` The age of affluence revisited : Council estates and consumer society in Britain, 1950 -- 1970. '' Journal of Consumer Culture 16.1 ( 2016 ) : 279 - 296. King, Anthony D. Buildings and Society : Essays on the Social Development of the Built Environment ( 1980 ) Madigan, Ruth, and Moira Munro. `` Gender, house and '' home `` : Social meanings and domestic architecture in Britain. '' Journal of Architectural and Planning Research ( 1991 ) : 116 - 132. in JSTOR Melling, Joseph, ed. Housing, Social Policy and the State ( 1980 ) Merrett, Stephen. State Housing in Britain ( 1979 ) Merrett, Stephen, and Fred Gray. Owner - occupation in Britain ( Routledge, 1982 ). Pugh, Martin. We Danced all Night : A social history of Britain between the Wars ( 2008 ), pp 57 - 75. Rodger, Richard. Housing in urban Britain 1780 - 1914 ( Cambridge UP, 1995 ). Scott, Peter. `` Marketing mass home ownership and the creation of the modern working - class consumer in inter-war Britain. '' Business History 50.1 ( 2008 ) : 4 - 25. Short, John R. Housing in Britain : the post-war experience ( Taylor & Francis, 1982 ). Smyth, Stewart. `` The privatization of council housing : Stock transfer and the struggle for accountable housing. '' Critical Social Policy 33.1 ( 2013 ) : 37 - 56. Stephenson, John, British society 1914 -- 45 ( 1984 ) pp 221 -- 42. Swenarton, Mark. Homes Fit for Heroes : The Politics and Architecture of Early State Housing in Britain ( 1981 ). Thane, Pat. Cassel 's Companion to 20th Century Britain ( 2001 ) pp 195 -- 96. Historiography Hinchcliffe, Tanis. `` Pandora 's Box : Forty Years of Housing History. '' The London Journal 41.1 ( 2016 ) : 1 - 16. Discusses articles on housing and the scholarly journal The London Journal Pepper, Simon, and Peter Richmond. `` Homes unfit for heroes : The slum problem in London and Neville Chamberlain 's Unhealthy Areas Committee, 1919 -- 21. '' Town Planning Review 80.2 ( 2009 ) : 143 -- 171. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Housing_in_the_United_Kingdom&oldid=801982402 '' Categories : Housing in the United Kingdom Real estate in the United Kingdom Home inspection British society Social class in the United Kingdom Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2016 All Wikipedia articles needing clarification NPOV disputes from January 2016 All NPOV disputes Use dmy dates from September 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 23 September 2017, at 06 : 12. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: how many homes are there in the uk
Answer: approximately 23 million