Domain review
Housing and Household Formation
Measures whether people can form stable adult lives.
Housing and Household Formation is currently rated Fragile. The domain score is driven primarily by Rough sleeping snapshot (England), Households in temporary accommodation (England) and Net additional dwellings. Data confidence is medium across its component metrics.
Component indicators
Housing and Household Formation · Metrics
House price to earnings ratio (England)
2025
Verified official value from ONS (house price to workplace earnings, England (median)), accessed 2026-06-13.
Evidence file
House price to earnings ratio (England)
Latest reading
2025
Scoring breakdown
Source
Housing affordability statistics
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS
- Series ID
- house price to workplace earnings, England (median)
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
England-only and annual frequency; median price conceals large regional variation, and the measure does not account for interest rates or deposit requirements.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (house price to workplace earnings, England (median)), accessed 2026-06-13.
Rent to income ratio
FYE 2024
Verified official value from ONS (private rental affordability, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Evidence file
Rent to income ratio
Latest reading
FYE 2024
Scoring breakdown
Source
Housing affordability statistics
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS
- Series ID
- private rental affordability, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
New-let rents diverge significantly from renewal rents, so this measure overstates the burden for long-term tenants while understating entry barriers for new renters.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (private rental affordability, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Net additional dwellings
2024–25
Verified official value from MHCLG (net additional dwellings, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Evidence file
Net additional dwellings
Latest reading
2024–25
Scoring breakdown
Source
Housing supply: net additional dwellings
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- MHCLG
- Series ID
- net additional dwellings, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
A gross supply count; it does not net off demolitions beyond the standard adjustment or directly compare with household formation, so it speaks to supply volume rather than adequacy.
Notes
Verified official value from MHCLG (net additional dwellings, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Households in temporary accommodation (England)
Q1 2026
Verified official value from MHCLG (households in temporary accommodation, England), accessed 2026-08-13.
Evidence file
Households in temporary accommodation (England)
Latest reading
Q1 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
Statutory homelessness & temporary accommodation
- Update frequency
- Quarterly
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- MHCLG
- Series ID
- households in temporary accommodation, England
- Frequency
- quarterly
- Accessed
- 13 August 2026
Known weakness
England-only administrative data; local authorities are the gatekeepers of the metric, so resource constraints affecting council capacity may suppress recorded numbers.
Notes
Verified official value from MHCLG (households in temporary accommodation, England), accessed 2026-08-13.
Social housing waiting lists (England)
31 Mar 2025
Verified official value from MHCLG (LA housing register, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Evidence file
Social housing waiting lists (England)
Latest reading
31 Mar 2025
Scoring breakdown
Source
Local authority housing statistics, waiting lists
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- MHCLG
- Series ID
- LA housing register, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
Register inflation is a known limitation: local authorities apply different eligibility criteria and removal processes, causing list sizes to be incomparable across areas.
Notes
Verified official value from MHCLG (LA housing register, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Rough sleeping snapshot (England)
Autumn 2025
Verified official value from MHCLG (mhclg_rough_sleeping), accessed 2026-07-07.
Evidence file
Rough sleeping snapshot (England)
Latest reading
Autumn 2025
Scoring breakdown
Source
MHCLG: Rough sleeping snapshot in England
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- MHCLG
- Series ID
- mhclg_rough_sleeping
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 7 July 2026
Known weakness
England only; single-night snapshot; known undercount; consistent methodology since 2010.
Notes
Verified official value from MHCLG (mhclg_rough_sleeping), accessed 2026-07-07.
Historical values
Metric trends
Historical values
House price to earnings ratio (England)
Latest
7.6ratio, median price / median full-time earningsHouse price to earnings ratio (England) · ratio, median price / median full-time earnings · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Rent to income ratio
Latest
36.3% of gross income on new-let private rentRent to income ratio · % of gross income on new-let private rent · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Net additional dwellings
Latest
209thousand net additional dwellings (England)Net additional dwellings · thousand net additional dwellings (England) · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Households in temporary accommodation (England)
Latest
136thousand householdsHouseholds in temporary accommodation (England) · thousand households · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Social housing waiting lists (England)
Latest
1.34million householdsSocial housing waiting lists (England) · million households · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Rough sleeping snapshot (England)
Latest
4,793peopleRough sleeping snapshot (England) · people · reported values, not stress scores.
Data provenance
Sources for this domain
| Organisation | Dataset | Type | Frequency | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office for National Statistics | Housing affordability statistics | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Housing supply: net additional dwellings | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Statutory homelessness & temporary accommodation | Official | Quarterly | Source ↗ |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Local authority housing statistics, waiting lists | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | MHCLG: Rough sleeping snapshot in England | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
How the Housing and Household Formation domain is scored
The domain score is the median of the 6 component metric stress scores. Using the median reduces sensitivity to a single anomalous metric.
Each metric stress score is calculated as:
metric_stress = clamp(0.6 × level_score + 0.3 × trend_score + 0.1 × volatility_score, 0, 100)The Housing and Household Formation domain carries a weight of 11% in the national index. Full methodology: methodology page.
International context · vs OECD
House price-to-income ratio (OECD index, 2015=100)
Price-to-income index (2015=100); UK below the OECD average. (Accessed 2026-06-16 via OECD Analytical House Prices.)
OECD Analytical House Prices ↗ · 2023 · context only, not part of the score
Faster signal · since the last release
Mortgage approvals (house purchase)
Slightly above the six-month average, modest demand recovery.
Bank of England ↗ · monthly · context only, not part of the score
Sensitivity analysis
What would move this domain?
The Housing and Household Formation domain score is most sensitive to its two highest-stress indicators. Meaningful improvement in either of the following metrics would be the most direct path to improving the domain score:
- 87
Rough sleeping snapshot (England)
Estimated number of people sleeping rough on a single autumn night in England.
- 78
Households in temporary accommodation (England)
Number of households placed in temporary accommodation by local authorities in England, a direct indicator of acute housing system failure.
Related analysis
Deep dives related to Housing and Household Formation
How the price of a home has climbed over thirty years, how far it varies between places, and where West Lothian sits.
How many years of pay a home costs in every local authority: 7.63 times typical earnings in England, down from the 2021 peak but more than double the 1997 ratio.
The average UK rent at 1,388 pounds a month and up 3.3 per cent in a year, where renting costs most and least by local authority, and which areas are rising fastest.
134,210 households, including 176,130 children, were living in temporary accommodation on 31 December 2025, down slightly from the record set the previous quarter, the first quarterly fall since 2022, but still up 5.0 per cent on a year earlier.
91,092 landlord possession claims and 29,067 bailiff repossessions in England and Wales in 2025, the section 21 accelerated route explained, mortgage possessions, and 1.34 million households on English council housing waiting lists.
Two sides of housing pressure: more than 1.3 million households on council waiting lists, and the rise in renter evictions, by area.