FOI ref: FOI-2024-2047
You asked
I’m looking for information related to the below queries if you hold it? Ideally looking for the latest data capture – looking online, I can’t seem to find a UK-wide figure.
- Latest figures for number of renters across total UK?
And/or
- Latest figures for number of households occupied by private renters across total UK?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry about renters in the UK.
Housing is a devolved policy area, as such each UK country is able to tailor their statistics collection to their local needs.
We do not have data on the number of individuals who are private renters across the UK.
In terms of the number of properties in the private rented sector:
Our Dwelling stock by tenure, UK publication provides a figure of 5,489,000 privately rented dwellings for Great Britain as at 31 March 2021 (or 5,438,000 in 2022), however we do not have regular coherent data for Northern Ireland to include to make a UK figure.
Using data from Census 2021 in Northern Ireland, as part of Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin October - December 2023 it was estimated there were about 130,000 privately rented dwellings in 2021 in Northern Ireland.
Combining these figures, which are not directly comparable, gives around 5.6 million privately rented dwellings across the UK in 2021.
In terms of the number of households in the private rented sector:
Our Families and households in the UK: 2023 publication suggests there are 28.4 million households in the UK. UK results from the Family Resources Survey suggest that in 2023, 19% of households in the UK were privately renting.
Combining these figures, which are not directly comparable, gives around 5.4 million households privately renting across the UK in 2023.