How England's housing stock splits between owner-occupiers and private landlords, and how that balance has shifted since 2001.
The Investor-to-Owner Ratio compares the share of England's housing stock held by private landlords against the share held by owner-occupiers, in a single number: privately rented share ÷ owner-occupied share. A ratio of 0.30 means that for every 10 owner-occupied homes, roughly 3 are privately rented.
This isn't a figure MHCLG or ONS publish directly — it's calculated by Homabu from their published tenure breakdowns, which is what makes it a proprietary metric rather than a republished one.
Raw percentages (like "19.3% of homes are privately rented") tell you a share of the total, but they don't directly convey how the balance between the two dominant tenures is shifting relative to each other. The ratio format makes that comparison more immediate, and makes multi-year trend-spotting easier — a ratio climbing from 0.14 to 0.33 and partially back down to 0.30 tells a clearer story than watching two percentages drift in opposite directions.
The ratio rose sharply and almost continuously from 2001 (0.145) to a 2016 peak (0.326) — the fastest period of investor growth relative to owner-occupation in the series. Since 2016, it's eased back down slightly, to 0.301 by 2024. Read plainly: the shift toward investor ownership was real and sustained for 15 years, and has partially — not fully — reversed in the 8 years since.
| Year | Owner-Occupier Share | Investor Share | Social + Public Share | Investor-to-Owner Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 69.5% | 10.1% | 20.5% | 0.145 |
| 2002 | 69.5% | 10.3% | 20.2% | 0.148 |
| 2003 | 68.7% | 11.8% | 19.5% | 0.173 |
| 2004 | 69.1% | 11.9% | 19.0% | 0.172 |
| 2005 | 69.0% | 12.4% | 18.5% | 0.180 |
| 2006 | 68.2% | 13.5% | 18.3% | 0.198 |
| 2007 | 67.7% | 14.3% | 18.0% | 0.211 |
| 2008 | 66.9% | 15.3% | 17.8% | 0.229 |
| 2009 | 66.0% | 16.3% | 17.7% | 0.248 |
| 2010 | 65.2% | 17.1% | 17.6% | 0.263 |
| 2011 | 64.5% | 17.9% | 17.6% | 0.277 |
| 2012 | 63.8% | 18.5% | 17.6% | 0.290 |
| 2013 | 63.2% | 19.2% | 17.6% | 0.304 |
| 2014 | 62.8% | 19.8% | 17.4% | 0.315 |
| 2015 | 62.4% | 20.3% | 17.3% | 0.325 |
| 2016 (peak) | 62.4% | 20.3% | 17.3% | 0.326 |
| 2017 | 62.9% | 20.0% | 17.1% | 0.318 |
| 2018 | 63.4% | 19.7% | 16.9% | 0.311 |
| 2019 | 63.7% | 19.5% | 16.8% | 0.305 |
| 2020 | 63.8% | 19.5% | 16.7% | 0.305 |
| 2021 | 63.8% | 19.6% | 16.6% | 0.306 |
| 2022 | 64.0% | 19.5% | 16.5% | 0.304 |
| 2023 | 64.1% | 19.4% | 16.4% | 0.303 |
| 2024 (latest) | 64.3% | 19.3% | 16.4% | 0.301 |
Full annual series, 2001-2024. Also available as a CSV download below.
↓ Download the data (CSV)MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) Dwelling Stock Estimates, England — published annually, covering the total housing stock broken down by tenure (owner-occupied, privately rented, and social/public housing). Our figures are checked against MHCLG's own published data for accuracy.
MHCLG typically publishes updated Dwelling Stock Estimates once a year. This index is reviewed and updated shortly after each new release — expect an annual refresh, not a continuous feed.