§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of owner-occupiers in every fifth year from 1955 to the present, expressed as a gross figure and as a percentage of the population this represents; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungEstimates of the owner-occupied housing stock are based on data from the censuses of population and housing in 1961, 1966, 1971 and 1981, and from such information as is available on gains and losses between censuses.
The latest estimates available are as follows:
Owner occupied dwellings, England Millions Percentage of all dwellings December 1950 3.4 29 April 1961 6.1 44 April 1966 7.2 48 April 1971 8.3 52 December 1975 9.4 55 April 1981 10.6 59 December 1984* 11.7 63 * Provisional. This steady increase reflects the enormous underlying demand for home ownership, even at times when there has been massive public expenditure on council housing. I am confident that the Government's present policies of encouraging home ownership will lead to futher increases in the number of home owners in the future.