What is Housing Tenure?
'Housing Tenure' refers to the legal status under which people have the right to occupy accommodation. Within ONS census data there are four categories of housing tenure: Owns outright, Owns with a mortgage or loan or shared ownership, Social rented, Private rented or lives rent free.
The latest housing tenure data
Across three of the four housing tenure categories, England excluding London values are higher by roughly 5 percentage points (pp) than the North East LEP area. These categories are Owns outright; Owns with a mortgage, loan, or shared ownership; and Private rented or lives rent free. The only tenure category which has a higher proportion in the North East LEP than England excluding London is social rented accommodation.
Within both the North East LEP area and England exlcuding London, Owns outright and Owns with a mortgage, loan, or shared ownership are the two highest tenure categories. Roughly a third of the population in the North East and England excluding London own their property; roughly a further 28% own their property with a mortgage, loan, or shared ownership.
A significantly higher proportion of people in the North East live in social rented accommodation (23%) than in England excluding London (16%). Roughly 18% of people within the North East and England excluding London live in private rented accommodation.
Within the North East LEP area Local Authorities, the proportion of people living in various types of tenure varies dramatically. County Durham, Gateshead, North Tyneside, and Sunderland tenure proportions follow the North East LEP area average with some variation.
In Newcastle, the four tenure categories are almost proportionally split equally. The proportions of people within these categories ranges from 27% for living in social rented, to 23% for private rented or lives rent free. The other Local Authority which has a higher proportion of people living in Social rented accommodation than private rented or lives rent free is South Tyneside. In South Tyneside, people living in socially rented accommodation (30%) almost equals the number of people who outright own their property.
Northumberland has a much higher proportion of people who outright own their property (39%) than the other Local Authorities and a much smaller proportion who live in socially rented accommodation.
When compared to similar LEPs, the North East has a similar proportion of residents who outright own their own property and own through a mortgage, loan, or shared agreement. The outliers include the proportion of the population who live in private rented accommodation: the North East has the lowest proportion; and the North East also has the second highest proportion of the population which lives in socially rented accommodation.
Interactive Social Rent Accommodation Map
The map below shows the proportion of socially rented accommodation within LAs. It is centered on Northumberland, but can be moved around to examine the other LAs in more detail.