By Kye Harman, marketing manager of Armishaws Removals

ACCORDING to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the average deposit for first-time buyers in 2022 was an eye-watering £43,693, with only 53% of flats having access to a garden. 

As we approach the release of their 2023 English Housing Survey, let’s recap some of the key figures from last year’s report. 

First-time buyers:

• The average age of first-time buyer was 34.
• The average first-time buyer deposit was a hefty £43,693.
• There were more first-time buyers during the 2020 lockdown than in 2021. While there were 852,000 during the first year of the pandemic, the number dropped by 100,000 the following year.

Renters:

• Private renters (not including social housing) forked out a massive 33% of their income on rent payments.
• Only 62% of private renters (2.8 million households) and 27% of social renters (1.1 million households) said they expect to be able to buy their own property in the future.

Space:

• The government considered 9.3 million households ‘underoccupied’ for having two or more empty spare bedrooms.
• Private outside space is owned by 81% of homes, while 13% had a shared plot.
• Almost all houses and bungalows have outside areas, compared to just 57% of flats.

Households:

• Average household size rose from 2.2 persons to 2.3. This was a decrease from 2.4 in 2019-20.
• On average, homeowners spent 22% of total household income on mortgage payments, up from 18% in 2011-12.
• Households with savings decreased from 68% to 64%.
• Just 7% of English households didn’t have internet access.
• The largest group of owner ‘types’ in England was couples with no dependent children (41%). A total of 24% of owners were lone female households, while lone males accounted for 15%.
• Approximately 1.8 million households had moved home in the previous 12 months, 620,000 were moving in or out of privately rented accommodation, 363,000 were new households and 361,000 were owner occupiers.
• General ‘happiness’ was on the up. The average life satisfaction score in English homes increased from 7.3 to 7.5. The score of those thinking ‘life is worthwhile’ rose from 7.6 to 7.8 and happiness danced up from 7.2 to 7.5. So it’s not all bad.

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