1. Main facts and figures
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in the 2 years from April 2015 to March 2017, White British first-time buyers were 31 years old on average when they bought their first home
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first time-buyers from all other ethnic groups combined were slightly older than White British first-time buyers when they bought their first home, at 32 years old
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the average age of first-time buyers when they bought their first home in England, by ethnicity.
First-time buyers are people who had bought a home for the first time in the 3 years before being surveyed.
The information relates to households of either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. It must be their main or only home.
Ages are rounded to the nearest year in the chart, and the nearest year and month in the table.
Not included in the data
Estimates based on fewer than 30 households have not been included. This is because it is harder to make reliable generalisations from smaller numbers of survey respondents.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for 2 ethnic groups:
- White British
- Other – all ethnic minority groups (including White minorities)
This is to keep group sizes big enough to be able to make reliable generalisations.
Each household’s ethnic group is the ethnicity of the ‘household reference person’ (usually the person responsible for paying the rent or mortgage). There may be people of different ethnicities in the same household.
The ethnicity was known for 99.8% of households.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
The data is an average for the 2 years from April 2015 to March 2017. This is to make sure there are enough households to be able to make reliable generalisations. You can read more about combining multiple years of data and some of the issues involved.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Age |
|---|---|
| White British | 30 years and 11 months |
| Other than White British | 32 years and 5 months |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
4. 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.
5. Download the data
This file contains: year, ethnicity, value, standard deviation, sample size