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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group section
- 4. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and income section
- 5. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and area section
- 6. Navigate toTime spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of occupancy section
- 7. Navigate to Methodology section
- 8. Navigate to Data sources section
- 9. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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over the period studied, White British households had lived in their current home for 15 years on average – this was longer than for almost all other ethnic groups
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in the same period, across all socio-economic groups, income bands, regions in England and types of occupancy, White British households had lived in their current home for longer than any other ethnic group
Things you need to know
Compared with White British households, ethnic minority households tend to:
- be younger
- have lived in England for a shorter time
- be located in urban areas
- live in larger households
- live in rented accommodation
To ensure that there is a large enough number of ethnic minority households to produce reliable findings, the data is drawn from the English Housing Survey (EHS) 2014/15 and 2015/16.
Information about households available from the EHS Headline and Annual Reports is normally based on a 12-month period (April to March) of the survey. Because of this some of the statistics cited here may not match those in the Headline and Annual Reports.
The commentary only includes findings based on subgroups of at least 30 households to ensure that we report reliable findings.
The number of people from Gypsy, Traveller and Irish Traveller households is very small. To avoid disclosing personal information about individuals in those groups, information about them is not presented in some of the tables or charts.
The EHS is a ‘sample survey’: it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings’) about the total population.
For example, EHS findings might include the percentage of households who get help from their family to buy their own home.
The commentary for this data only includes reliable, or ‘statistically significant’, findings.
Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.
What the data measures
This data measures the average (mean) length of time, in years and months, that people in England have lived in their current home.
The data is broken down by ethnicity and:
- whether they own their home, rent privately or rent through social housing
- the type of occupation they have
- their level of income
- which region of England they live in
The figures are drawn from the 2014/15 and 2015/16 English Housing Survey (EHS). The survey involves face-to-face interviews with about 13,300 randomly selected households every year.
These are used to make estimates for the 22.6 million households in England as a whole.
The EHS is a national survey of people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of homes in England.
The information relates to households. A household is one person or a group of people (not necessarily related) who have the accommodation as their only or main residence. If they are a group they also must share cooking facilities and a living room, sitting room, or dining area.
The EHS has ethnicity information on the household reference person as well as all other members of the household. The household reference person is the person in whose name the dwelling is owned or rented or who is otherwise responsible for the accommodation.
Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds; in these circumstances, we have used the ethnic background of the household reference person to define the ethnic background of the household.
Nearly all the household reference persons – more than 99.8% interviewed – provided information on their ethnicity.
The data is shown for the 9 regions of England: North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East, London, South East and the South West.
The ethnic categories used in this data
For comparisons made at national level, this data uses the standardised ethnic groups based on the 2011 Census.
White:
- English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British
- Irish
- Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller
- Any other White background
Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:
- White and Black Caribbean
- White and Black African
- White and Asian
- Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
Asian/Asian British:
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Bangladeshi
- Chinese
- Any other Asian background
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:
- African
- Caribbean
- Any other Black/African/Caribbean background
Other ethnic group:
- Arab
- Any other ethnic group
For data analysed both by ethnicity and by socio-economic group, income, region and type of occupancy, the following 2 ethnic groups have been used:
- White British
- Other – all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities and all other ethnic minorities)
This is because the number of people that were surveyed to generate estimates for the population as a whole becomes too small to be reliable when broken down both by ethnicity (in either detailed or broad categories) and by another factor like socio-economic group or income.
Data is therefore grouped to a size where estimates become reliable. In this case, information broken down by ethnicity and another factor compares White British with Other.
2. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Time in current home |
|---|---|
| Asian | |
| Bangladeshi | 9 years 1 months |
| Chinese | 6 years 0 months |
| Indian | 11 years 1 months |
| Pakistani | 10 years 8 months |
| Asian other | 8 years 1 months |
| Black | |
| Black African | 6 years 5 months |
| Black Caribbean | 14 years 4 months |
| Black other | 8 years 10 months |
| Mixed | |
| Mixed White/Asian | 9 years 8 months |
| Mixed White/Black African | 6 years 2 months |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 8 years 2 months |
| Mixed other | 6 years 2 months |
| White | |
| White British | 15 years 1 months |
| White Irish | 15 years 10 months |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White other | 5 years 9 months |
| Other | |
| Arab | 5 years 9 months |
| Any other | 7 years 1 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
-
over the period studied, White British households had lived in their current home for 15 years on average – this was longer than for almost all other ethnic groups
-
White Irish households had lived in their current home for longer than White British households – however, the number of households surveyed was too small to draw firm conclusions
-
Black Caribbean households had lived in their current home for a shorter time than White British households – however, the number of households surveyed was too small to draw firm conclusions
3. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group
| Ethnicity | Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations | Intermediate occupations | Routine and manual occupations |
|---|---|---|---|
| White British | 13 years 6 months | 16 years 0 months | 16 years 2 months |
| All other ethnic groups | 7 years 9 months | 9 years 4 months | 9 years 0 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary
This data shows that:
- over the period studied, across all socio-economic groups, White British households had lived in their current home for longer than ethnic minority households
4. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income
| Weekly income | White British | All other ethnic groups |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Time | |
| Up to £99 | 8 years 2 months | 4 years 11 months |
| £100 to £199 | 16 years 1 months | 9 years 2 months |
| £200 to £299 | 19 years 3 months | 10 years 6 months |
| £300 to £399 | 17 years 4 months | 8 years 5 months |
| £400 to £499 | 16 years 7 months | 9 years 3 months |
| £500 to £599 | 15 years 2 months | 7 years 6 months |
| £600 to £699 | 15 years 2 months | 8 years 5 months |
| £700 to £799 | 14 years 3 months | 7 years 9 months |
| £800 to £899 | 13 years 4 months | 8 years 0 months |
| £900 to £999 | 13 years 7 months | 8 years 1 months |
| £1000 and above | 12 years 1 months | 8 years 7 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and income Summary
This data shows that:
- over the period studied, across all income groups, White British households had lived in their current home for longer than ethnic minority households
5. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and area
| Region | White British | All other ethnic groups |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Time | |
| North East | 15 years 6 months | 7 years 5 months |
| North West | 15 years 8 months | 9 years 3 months |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 14 years 9 months | 8 years 6 months |
| East Midlands | 14 years 10 months | 8 years 7 months |
| West Midlands | 16 years 11 months | 9 years 8 months |
| East | 15 years 2 months | 7 years 4 months |
| London | 15 years 3 months | 9 years 2 months |
| South East | 14 years 0 months | 7 years 3 months |
| South West | 14 years 4 months | 6 years 4 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and area Summary
This data shows that:
- over the period studied, in all regions of England, White British households had lived in their current home for longer than ethnic minority households
6. Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of occupancy
| Ethnicity | Owner occupiers | Social rented housing | Private rented housing |
|---|---|---|---|
| White British | 18 years and 2 months | 12 years and 2 months | 4 years and 10 months |
| All other ethnic groups | 13 years and 8 months | 8 years and 10 months | 2 years and 8 months |
Download table data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of occupancy’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of occupancy’ (CSV)
Summary of Time spent living in current home Time spent living in current home by ethnicity and type of occupancy Summary
This data shows that:
- over the period studied, across all types of occupancy, White British households had lived in their current home for longer than ethnic minority households
7. Methodology
The EHS consists of:
- face-to-face interviews with a random sample of about 13,300 households a year
- a physical inspection of the homes of about 6,000 of the interviewed households – these are selected at random and carried out by a surveyor
The surveyor also inspects a random sample of about 200 properties identified by the interviewer as vacant.
Weighting:
Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population.
For example, a survey which contains 25% females and 75% males will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know is around 50% male and 50% female.
Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.
Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.
In the EHS, weighting makes the results more representative of the 22.6 million households in England.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Estimates based on less than 30 households have not been included in these statistics, because small numbers of households make it impossible to draw meaningful conclusions. The analysis has been done by binary classification only where broken down by socio-economic group, income, region or age. This prevents small numbers appearing in the table and avoids the potential for identification of individuals.
More detailed data, including some potentially disclosive data, is protected by a range of disclosure controls. See the guidance on English Housing Survey: datasets for information accessing this data.
Rounding
Estimates in the charts are rounded to the nearest year. Estimates in the tables are given to the nearest year and month.
Quality and methodology information
8. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Note on corrections or updates
Information published in the EHS headline report and other annual reports is usually based on a 12-month period, rather than the 2 years’ combined data used here. As a result, the statistics shown here may not match those in the EHS reports.
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.
9. Download the data
This file contains: ethnicity, period, NS-SEC, income band, region, tenure, standard deviation, sample size