Census 2021 data on housing characteristics at the dwelling level, in England and Wales. Characteristics include dwelling occupancy, shared dwellings, accommodation type, tenure, central heating type and number of bedrooms. We also compare with the 2011 Census, where appropriate. Figures are based on geography boundaries as of December 2021.

Total counts for some dwelling groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of dwellings' data. Dwelling counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all dwellings (excluding communal establishments) in England and Wales by housing characteristics, where possible. Some characteristics are only available for occupied dwellings i.e. tenure, central heating type and number of bedrooms.The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Quality considerations along with the strengths and limitations of Census 2021, more generally, can be found in the Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) for Census 2021.

We do not separate social rent into ‘housing association, housing co-operative, charitable trust, registered social landlord’ and ‘council or local authority’ as it is evident in the data that there is respondent error in identifying the type of landlord. This is particularly clear in results for areas which have no local authority housing stock, but there are households responding as having a ‘council or local authority’ landlord type. Estimates are likely to be accurate when the social rent category is combined.

Dwellings

A dwelling is a self-contained unit of accommodation that may be empty or being lived in, for example houses or flats. They are usually made up of one household, but those with more than one household are shared and called a “shared dwelling”.

Unoccupied Dwelling

An unoccupied dwelling refers to a unit of accommodation with no usual residents, although they may be used by short term residents or visitors on census night. An occupied dwelling has usual residents.

Shared Dwelling

A dwelling is shared if there are two or more households at the same address that are not self-contained. This means that not all of the rooms (including the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, if any) are behind a door only that household can use. Households combine to form a shared dwelling that is self-contained.

This dataset represents ethnic group (19 tick-box level) by dwelling tenure and by occupancy rating, for England and Wales combined. The data are also broken down by age and by sex.

The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity, or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options.

Total counts for some population groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of individuals' data. Population counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

"Asian Welsh" and "Black Welsh" ethnic groups were included on the census questionnaire in Wales only, these categories were new for 2021.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by ethnic group. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

All housing data in these tables do not include commual establishments.

For quality information in general, please read more from here.

For specific quality information about housing, please read more from here

Ethnic Group (19 tick-box level)

These are the 19 ethnic group used in this dataset:

• Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh
  • Bangladeshi
  • Chinese
  • Indian
  • Pakistani
  • Other Asian
• Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African
  • African
  • Caribbean
  • Other Black
• Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
  • White and Asian
  • White and Black African
  • White and Black Caribbean
  • Other Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
• White
  • English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British
  • Gypsy or Irish Traveller
  • Irish
  • Roma
  • Other White
• Other ethnic group
  • Arab
  • Any other ethnic group

Occupancy rating of bedrooms: 0 or more

A household’s accommodation has an ideal number of bedrooms or more bedrooms than required (under-occupied)

Occupancy rating of bedrooms: -1 or less

A household’s accommodation has fewer bedrooms than required (overcrowded)

Dataset population: Households

Dwellings

A household's accommodation (a household space) is defined as being in a shared dwelling if it has accommodation type 'part of a converted or shared house', not all the rooms (including bathroom and toilet, if any) are behind a door that only that household can use and there is at least one other such household space at the same address with which it can be combined to form the shared dwelling.

If any of these conditions are not met, the household space forms an unshared dwelling. Therefore a dwelling can consist of one household space (an unshared dwelling) or two or more household spaces (a shared dwelling).

Occupancy rating (bedrooms)

Occupancy rating provides a measure of whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded or underoccupied. There are two measures of occupancy rating: One based on the number of rooms in a household's accommodation, and one based on the number of bedrooms.

The ages of the household members and their relationships to each other are used to derive the number of rooms/bedrooms they require, based on a standard formula. The number of rooms/bedrooms required is subtracted from the number of rooms/bedrooms in the household's accommodation to obtain the occupancy rating. An occupancy rating of -1 implies that a household has one fewer room/bedroom than required, whereas +1 implies that they have one more room/bedroom than the standard requirement.

Religion of HRP

This is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'No religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'Not stated'.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

Type of central heating

A household's accommodation is classified as having central heating if it is present in some or all rooms (whether used or not). Central heating is classified by type, as shown in the classification table. Other central heating includes solar, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or other bottled gas. This information is not available for household spaces with no usual residents.

These National Statistics provide monthly estimates of the number of residential and non-residential property transactions in the UK and its constituent countries. National Statistics are accredited official statistics.

England and Northern Ireland statistics are based on information submitted to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) database by taxpayers on SDLT returns.

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) replaced SDLT in Scotland from 1 April 2015 and this data is provided to HMRC by https://www.revenue.scot/" class="govuk-link">Revenue Scotland to continue the time series.

Land Transaction Tax (LTT) replaced SDLT in Wales from 1 April 2018. To continue the time series, the https://gov.wales/welsh-revenue-authority" class="govuk-link">Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) have provided HMRC with a monthly data feed of LTT transactions since July 2021.

LTT figures for the latest month are estimated using a grossing factor based on data for the most recent and complete financial year. Until June 2021, LTT transactions for the latest month were estimated by HMRC based upon year on year growth in line with other UK nations.

LTT transactions up to the penultimate month are aligned with LTT statistics.

Go to Stamp Duty Land Tax guidance for the latest rates and information.

Go to Stamp Duty Land Tax rates from 1 December 2003 to 22 September 2022 and Stamp Duty: rates on land transfers before December 2003 for historic rates.

The latest release was published 09:30 27 June 2025 and was updated with provisional data from completed transactions during May 2025.

The next release will be published 09:30 31 July 2025 and will be updated with provisional data from completed transactions during June 2025.

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20240320184933/https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-property-transactions-completed-in-the-uk-with-value-40000-or-above" class="govuk-link">Archive versions of the Monthly property transactions completed in the UK with value of £40,000 or above are available via the UK Government Web Archive, from the National Archives.