Question 1

How many evictions and repossessions are there in England and Wales?

Accepted Answer

Landlords made 23,635 possession claims in the county courts of England and Wales in April to June 2026, up 6% on a year earlier, and county court bailiffs carried out 6,560 landlord repossessions, down 3%, according to the Ministry of Justice's Mortgage and landlord possession statistics , published 13 August 2026. Mortgage lenders made 5,232 claims, and there were 1,008 mortgage repossessions. A claim starts a court case and many end without an eviction. Bailiff repossessions are the closest official measure of court evictions, but tenants who leave after a notice and before a court order are not counted. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026, so compare periods with care. Figures are quarterly; MoJ gives the next release date as 12 November 2026.

Question 2

How many people claim Housing Benefit?

Accepted Answer

There were 1,446,900 Housing Benefit claims in Great Britain in March 2026, down 23.2% since February 2025, according to DWP's Annual Benefits Statistics Compendium 2026 . The fall is mainly because working-age claimants are moving to Universal Credit, which has its own housing element. Housing Benefit continues for most pensioners and for people in supported or temporary housing. For private renters, help with rent is limited by the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for the area and household size. The LHA rates for April 2026 to March 2027 are the same as the rates set in April 2024, according to the Valuation Office Agency. To count everyone getting help with rent, add Universal Credit housing element cases from Stat-Xplore , which breaks figures down by council and tenure.

Question 3

How many people are on social housing waiting lists?

Accepted Answer

There were 1,340,527 households on council housing registers, often called waiting lists, in England at the end of March 2025, according to MHCLG's Live Table 600, last updated 25 June 2026. The table, in the live tables on rents, lettings and tenancies , gives figures for every council back to 1987 and comes from the annual Local Authority Housing Statistics return. The figures count households, not people. Each council sets its own rules on who can join, so a rise or fall can reflect a council reviewing or reopening its list rather than a change in need. There is no official national figure for how long people wait; councils publish their own banding and lettings information. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish separately.

Question 4

How many households are in temporary accommodation in England?

Accepted Answer

There were 135,580 households in temporary accommodation in England on 31 March 2026, including 86,460 households with children and 177,530 children, according to MHCLG's Statutory homelessness in England: January to March 2026 , published 13 August 2026. The release described the total as a record high. Temporary accommodation is housing a council arranges while it deals with a homelessness application or until settled housing is found, from self-contained flats to bed and breakfast. Figures are published quarterly with council-level tables. They count households on one date, not everyone helped during the year. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their own figures on different legal definitions, so a UK total has to be built from four sources.

Question 5

How many people sleep rough in England?

Accepted Answer

An estimated 4,793 people were sleeping rough in England on a single night in autumn 2025, according to MHCLG's Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2025 , published 26 February 2026. It was the highest figure since the snapshot approach began in 2010, above the previous peak of 4,751 in 2017. London and the South East accounted for 43%. Each council counts or estimates the number of people sleeping rough on one typical night between 1 October and 30 November, so the snapshot shows people seen on that night, not everyone who sleeps rough over a year. Records that track people over a period, such as monthly management information and London's CHAIN database, give larger totals. Wales publishes monthly figures, and Scotland and Northern Ireland measure rough sleeping in other ways.

Question 6

How many second homes are there in England?

Accepted Answer

There were 268,000 homes recorded as second homes for council tax purposes in England in September 2025, down 12,000 (4.3%) on 2024, according to MHCLG's Council Taxbase 2025 in England . For council tax, a second home is a furnished property that is nobody's main residence. Since 1 April 2025 councils in England can charge a Second Homes Premium of up to 100%, and 170,000 homes were being charged it. Council tax records are one measure. The English Housing Survey asks households whether they own a second home, including homes abroad or let to tenants, which gives a different count. Council-level figures are in the taxbase tables. Scotland and Wales publish their own figures, and their councils can charge different premiums.

Question 7

How many empty homes are there in England?

Accepted Answer

There were 542,000 homes recorded as empty for council tax purposes in England on 10 September 2025, up 8.0% on a year earlier, according to MHCLG's Council Taxbase 2025 in England . That excludes empty homes exempt from council tax, of which there were a further 212,000. Councils were charging the Empty Homes Premium on 153,000 homes, which can apply once a home has been empty for a year. The empty total includes homes briefly vacant between tenants or sales, so homes empty for six months or more are the better measure of homes standing unused; that figure is in MHCLG's live tables on dwelling stock , by council. Year-to-year changes can reflect councils reviewing their records. Scotland and Wales publish their own figures.

Question 8

How many council homes are sold through Right to Buy?

Accepted Answer

There were 9,236 sales of social housing through Right to Buy schemes in England in 2024-25, up 7% on 2023-24, according to MHCLG's Social housing sales and demolitions 2024-25 , published 12 February 2026. From April 1980 to March 2025, 2,038,589 social homes were sold through Right to Buy schemes, 90% of all recorded social housing sales. The total covers the statutory Right to Buy for council tenants, the Preserved Right to Buy for tenants whose homes moved to housing associations, and the Voluntary Right to Buy pilots, now concluded. Right to Acquire is counted separately. Council-level and quarterly figures are in the live tables on social housing sales, and a separate release covers how receipts are spent on replacement homes. Right to Buy ended in Scotland in 2016 and in Wales in 2019.

Question 9

What is the house price to earnings ratio in England and Wales?

Accepted Answer

In 2025 the typical home in England cost 7.6 times the typical annual earnings of a full-time employee, and in Wales 6.0 times, according to the ONS Housing affordability in England and Wales: 2025 , released 26 March 2026. The ratio divides the median house price by median full-time earnings. ONS said affordability had improved since ratios peaked in 2021. Ratios vary widely: in 2025 they ranged from 4.1 in Hyndburn and Kingston upon Hull to 25.2 in Kensington and Chelsea, with London at 10.6. ONS publishes median and lower-quartile versions, based on where people work or where they live, so check which one a claim uses. The ratio leaves out mortgage rates and deposits. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered by this release.

Question 10

How many social housing homes are there in England?

Accepted Answer

There were about 4.2 million social rented homes in England on 31 March 2025: 2.6 million owned by housing associations (private registered providers) and 1.6 million by councils, according to MHCLG's Dwelling stock estimates in England: 2025 . The English Housing Survey counted 4.1 million social renting households in 2024-25, 16% of all households. About 263,000 new social lettings were made in 2024-25, according to Social housing lettings in England , which also covers rents and tenants' previous circumstances. Dwelling figures count homes and the survey counts households, so they differ slightly. Whether the stock is growing depends on new building as well as sales and demolitions, which are published separately.

Question 11

How many households rent privately in England?

Accepted Answer

About 4.7 million households in England rented privately in 2024-25, 19% of all households, according to the English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025 headline findings , published 4 December 2025. Owner occupiers made up 65% and social renters 16%. The private rented share has been around 19% to 20% since 2013-14, after the sector roughly doubled in size from the early 2000s. The survey counts households. MHCLG's dwelling stock estimates count homes instead and put the private rented sector at 5 million dwellings on 31 March 2025, so the two figures differ. Survey estimates have margins of error, so small changes from one year to the next may not be statistically significant. The 2021 census gives tenure for every local area in England and Wales.

Homelessness, social housing and renting: your questions answered