Renting from a private landlord

Published

Last updated 1 March 2021 - see all updates

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1. Main facts and figures

  • 4.6 million (20%) of the 23 million households in England rented their home from a private landlord in the 2 years from 2016 to 2018
  • White British households were less likely than most other ethnic groups to rent their home privately
  • in every socio-economic group and region, White British households were less likely to rent privately than those from all ethnic minorities combined
  • in every income band except for the lowest, White British households were less likely to rent privately than those from all ethnic minorities combined

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the number and percentage of households who rent their home from a private landlord.

Privately rented housing includes accommodation that is connected to a job or made available rent-free. It does not include people who rent social housing.

The information relates to households, which is either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Not included in the data

Estimates based on fewer than 30 households have not been included. This is to protect people’s confidentiality, and because it’s harder to make reliable generalisations from smaller numbers of survey respondents.

The ethnic groups used in the data

For national estimates, the 18 ethnic groups from the 2011 Census are shown.

For data analysed by ethnicity and another factor, 2 ethnic groups are shown:

  • 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 named homeowner or main tenant).

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 2016 to March 2018. 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:

In the data file

See Download the data for:

  • unrounded percentages
  • sample sizes
  • weighted figures for the numerator and denominator

3. By ethnicity

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that rented their home privately, by ethnicity
Ethnicity % Private renters ('000s) All households ('000s)
All 20 4,606 23,160
Asian
Bangladeshi 21 32 152
Chinese 45 50 111
Indian 19 103 550
Pakistani 29 105 358
Asian other 38 72 190
Black
Black African 36 155 431
Black Caribbean 20 61 308
Black other 36 12 32
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian 20 10 52
Mixed White/Black African 25 21 85
Mixed White/Black Caribbean 36 34 93
Mixed other 34 25 73
White
White British 16 2,945 18,863
White Irish 21 44 213
White Gypsy/Traveller withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
White other 59 769 1,307
Other
Arab 51 42 83
Any other 49 123 250

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)

Summary of Renting from a private landlord By ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

  • 20% of households in England rented their home from a private landlord (around 4.6 million households)
  • 16% of White British households rented their home privately, a lower percentage than most other ethnic groups
  • households from the Chinese (45%), Arab (51%) and Other White (59%) ethnic groups had the highest percentages of renting their homes privately

4. By ethnicity and area

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that rented their home privately, by ethnicity and area
White British Other than White British
Region White British % White British Private renters ('000s) White British All households ('000s) Other than White British % Other than White British Private renters ('000s) Other than White British All households ('000s)
East 14 303 2,186 40 148 367
East Midlands 14 237 1,688 41 117 289
London 20 331 1,660 38 683 1,778
North East 15 167 1,090 31 21 68
North West 16 444 2,757 36 137 384
South East 15 477 3,244 44 231 522
South West 16 369 2,269 48 85 175
West Midlands 14 273 1,978 32 131 415
Yorkshire and the Humber 17 342 1,992 36 108 299

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)

Summary of Renting from a private landlord By ethnicity and area Summary

This data shows that:

  • in all regions in England, White British households were less likely to rent their home privately than households from all ethnic minority groups combined

5. By ethnicity and income

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that rented their home privately, by ethnicity and weekly income
White British Other than White British
Income_band White British % White British Private renters ('000s) White British All households ('000s) Other than White British % Other than White British Private renters ('000s) Other than White British All households ('000s)
Up to £99 27 48 179 26 11 40
£100 to £199 15 220 1,501 28 86 311
£200 to £299 18 355 2,008 36 155 430
£300 to £399 18 366 2,028 38 170 447
£400 to £499 19 329 1,767 43 154 362
£500 to £599 19 315 1,668 46 200 432
£600 to £699 17 262 1,576 44 164 373
£700 to £799 16 209 1,282 43 120 279
£800 to £899 16 178 1,148 49 136 281
£900 to £999 15 136 936 32 61 190
£1000 and above 11 512 4,636 35 392 1,117

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and income’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and income’ (CSV)

Summary of Renting from a private landlord By ethnicity and income Summary

This data shows that:

  • in every income band except the lowest (up to £99 a week), White British households were less likely to rent their home privately than households from all ethnic minority groups combined

6. By ethnicity and age group

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that rented their home privately, by ethnicity and age group
White British Other than White British
Age group White British % White British Private renters ('000s) White British All households ('000s) Other than White British % Other than White British Private renters ('000s) Other than White British All households ('000s)
16 - 24 63 363 580 79 160 202
25 - 34 37 859 2,297 61 618 1,009
35 - 44 22 614 2,773 42 505 1,218
45 - 54 12 462 3,705 31 260 844
55 - 64 8 283 3,373 17 84 499
65 or over 6 364 6,136 6 33 526

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)

Summary of Renting from a private landlord By ethnicity and age group Summary

The age group assigned to the household is that of the ‘household reference person’ (the person in whose name the home is owned or rented).

This data shows that:

  • in every age group except people aged 65 and over, White British householders were less likely to rent their home privately than households from all ethnic minority groups combined

7. By ethnicity and socio-economic group

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that rented their home privately, by ethnicity and socio-economic group
White British Other than White British
Socio-economic group White British % White British Private renters ('000s) White British All households ('000s) Other than White British % Other than White British Private renters ('000s) Other than White British All households ('000s)
Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations 14 1,092 7,684 37 598 1,629
Intermediate occupations 17 668 3,958 39 313 792
Routine and manual occupations 17 1,012 6,010 41 583 1,427

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)

Summary of Renting from a private landlord By ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary

This data shows that:

  • in every socio-economic group, White British households were less likely to rent their home privately than households from all ethnic minority groups combined

8. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Note on corrections or updates

Information published in the headline report and other annual reports is based on a single year rather than 2 years' data. As a result, the figures shown here may not match those in the English Housing Survey reports.

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The English Housing Survey collects information about:

  • people’s housing circumstances
  • the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England

9. Download the data

Renting from a Private Landlord - Spreadsheet (csv) 21 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, ethnicity type, year, geography, age group, NS-SEC (socio-economic group), income, region, value, denominator, numerator and sample size -- Please note, the overall percentage of people owning their own home differs when other variables are included in the analysis. This is because there were different response rates for questions about age, income, regions and socio-economic status (NS-SEC). This has resulted in 4 different percentages, sample sizes etc.