HC Deb 20 December 1966 vol 738 c260W
Mr. Charles Morrison

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will list year by year from 1945 the number of house units on 31st December of each year in the United Kingdom, showing the number that were owner-occupied, the number rented from private landlords and the number rented from local authorities.

Mr. Mellish

Accurate statistics about the ownership of dwellings are not available annually. Firm data were collected for the first time through the 1961 Census. Estimates based on the Census and other data are made annually for Great Britain and are published in "Housing Statistics" (No. 1 March 1966).

Some sample surveys were made prior to the 1961 Census, but these are subject to a considerable margin of sampling error. The first of these was made by the Social Survey in April, 1947. It gives the following distribution of dwellings in Great Britain:—

Million Dwellings Per cent.
Rented from a Council 1.68 13
Otherwise rented 7.36 57
Owner-occupied or buying 3.35 26
Tenancy part of wages .51 4
All Dwellings 12.90 100

It is thought that changes in tenure in Northern Ireland have not been such as to alter materially the distribution of tenures in the United Kingdom from those given for Great Britain.

The 1961 Census gave the following distribution of tenures in Northern Ireland:—

Thousand Dwellings Per cent.
Rented from local or public authorities 79 21
Owner-occupied 115 31
Privately rented 127 35
Other rented 6 2
Farmhouses 41 11
All Dwellings 368 100