Housing

CAJSNA DATA

Housing is central to people’s lives and is vital to health and wellbeing. Delivering the right housing to meet the needs of Wiltshire residents involves making the best use of current housing assets, delivering new housing where needed and addressing the housing problems currently facing residents such as affordability, sustainability and suitability.

Here you can find a range of key indicators related to housing and households in the different areas of Wiltshire, including data on the different compositions of households, on patterns of tenure, empty homes and second homes, and on affordable housing need and supply, as well as information on house sales and domestic energy systems and costs.

The CAJSNA information is primarily shown in interactive charts. These allow the user to hover over them and show extra detail within a tooltip, as well as the ability to remove indicators by deselecting them from the legend.

Household composition

There is considerable variation in the composition of different households within Wiltshire. Salisbury has the highest overall proportion of one-person households (34%), but Bradford on Avon and South West Wiltshire Area Boards have the highest rates of older people living alone, at just under 18%, compared with a Wiltshire average of 13.9%. While living alone is not the same as experiencing social isolation or loneliness, it can compound these and represent a challenge especially for older individuals who may lack support networks. The household composition measure also shows that Tidworth and Trowbridge areas have the highest proportions of lone parent families with dependent children (6.6% and 7.6%, compared with the Wiltshire average of 5.3%). Lone parent families often face an elevated risk of economic hardship.

Definition: Percentage of households by composition. Census data published at Output Area (OA) level and assigned to Area Board based on the location of the OA's population-weighted centroid.

Data source and time period: Office for National Statistics, 2021 Census. Table TS003: Household composition. March 2021.

Tenure

The tenure of our home affects our economic circumstances as well as the security of our housing situation. 37% of households in Wiltshire own their home outright, with no mortgage or loan. This ranges from 46% of households in Bradford on Avon community area to 18% in Tidworth community area, which is affected by a high proportion of military housing - 57% of households in Tidworth area rent their home, and 42% in Stonehenge, another area with a large military presence. Outside these two community areas, Salisbury and Warminster both have high proportions of households living in the private rented sector (20%, compared to Wiltshire average of 17%), and Devizes and Salisbury have high proportions of households renting from a social landlord (19%, compared with Wiltshire average of 15%).

Definition: Percentage of households by tenure. Census data published at Output Area (OA) level and assigned to Area Board based on the location of the OA's population-weighted centroid.

Data source and time period: Office for National Statistics, 2021 Census. Table TS054: Tenure. March 2021.

Occupancy rating

Overcrowding and under-occupation

Just under 4,000 households in Wiltshire live in overcrowded accommodation, with fewer bedrooms than are needed for the size and composition of the household. Tidworth Area Board has the highest proportion of overcrowded homes, following by Salisbury and Trowbridge. Overcrowding reduces privacy, places a strain on relationships, limits the space for children to study or play and can pose a health risk. Most households in Wiltshire, however, under-occupy their accommodation, i.e. have more bedrooms than required. Under-occupation carries its own risks as larger properties are often more expensive to maintain, with higher bills than smaller, more appropriately-sized homes. Malmesbury Area Board has the highest proportions of under-occupation in Wiltshire, at just over 84% of households.

Definition: Percentage of households by occupancy rating (bedrooms). This dataset describes whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded, ideally occupied or under-occupied. This is calculated by comparing the number of bedrooms the household requires to the number of available bedrooms. The number of bedrooms the household requires is calculated according to the Bedroom Standard, where the following should have their own bedroom: * 1. married or cohabiting couple * 2. single parent * 3. person aged 16 years and over * 4. pair of same-sex persons aged 10 to 15 years * 5. person aged 10 to 15 years paired with a person under 10 years of the same sex * 6. pair of children aged under 10 years, regardless of their sex * 7. person aged under 16 years who cannot share a bedroom with someone in 4, 5 or 6 above. An occupancy rating of: * -1 or less: implies that a household's accommodation has fewer bedrooms than required (overcrowded) * +1 or more: implies that a household's accommodation has more bedrooms than required (under-occupied) * 0: suggests that a household's accommodation has an ideal number of bedrooms. Published at output area (OA) level, allocated to Area Board according to location of OA's population-weighted centroid.

Data source and time period: Office for National Statistics, 2021 Census. Table TS052 Occupancy rating - bedrooms. March 2021.

Empty homes

Long-term empty homes

In October 2022, there were over 2000 homes in Wiltshire reported as having been empty for 6 months or more. This represents nearly one in every hundred homes in the county, and was the highest number since Wiltshire became a unitary authority in 2009. Long-term empty homes can reflect a number of factors, including ownership disputes and specialist adaptations, but fundamentally empty homes need to be filled in order to address housing need. Salisbury, South West Wiltshire, Corsham and Marlborough Area Boards had the highest rates of long-term empty homes in 2022, while Stonehenge and Salisbury Area Boards have seen the largest proportional increases since 2020 (Stonehenge from 82 in Oct 2020 to 146 in Oct 2022; Salisbury from 174 to 271).

Definition: Long term (6+ month) empty homes, and as a proportion of all chargeable dwellings on the Council Tax database.

Data source and time period: Revenues and Benefits Team, Wiltshire Council. October 2020 and October 2022.

Second homes

In October 2022, there were 1,387 dwellings in Wiltshire reported to the council as second homes: this represents 0.6% of all the chargeable residential dwellings on the Council Tax database. Proportions were higher than average in South West Wiltshire Area Board (2%); while Trowbridge had the lowest rate at 0.2%. The number of reported second homes in the county has decreased slightly since 2020, when the total number was 1,451. Residents do not however receive a Council Tax discount for second homes, and so changes to a home's status are not always reported - as such, these figures should be considered indicative of the real number and distribution of second homes in Wiltshire, rather than definitive.

Definition: Dwellings reported as second homes as a percentage of chargeable dwellings on the Council Tax database.

Data source and time period: Revenues and Benefits Team, Wiltshire Council. October 2020 and October 2022.

Affordable housing need and supply

Overall demand for affordable rented homes consistently outstrips supply across Wiltshire, with only older persons homes, two bedroom flats above the ground floor (in some areas) and some isolated rural homes attracting relatively little interest from housing applicants. Large homes and adaptable/accessible homes are in particularly short supply. High demand for one bedroom flats and houses is concentrated in the urban areas, particularly where the proportion of social rented stock is below or near the average for Wiltshire. We advise customers about low cost home ownership and private rented options and, where customers already have social rented homes, by encouraging mutual exchange. Another key issue is that homes adaptable to meet the needs of physically disabled/sensorily impaired customers and homes in suitable locations for more vulnerable customers with care needs are limited, and we casework the highest priority applicants with adapted and care needs to help them secure more suitable homes as quickly as practicable.

Definition: The number of households in bands 1-4 (housing need) on Wiltshire's Affordable Housing Register in December 2022, and the number of lets made of affordable rented homes in 2022.

Data source and time period: Housing Ops and Migration & Resettlement, Wiltshire Council. Affordable housing need = snapshot 31st December 2022. Affordable housing lets = year ending 31st December 2022 (by date of acceptance of offer).

Rough sleeping

The number of people sleeping rough is based on a bi-monthly count that takes place across Wiltshire. A 5am count is conducted, to count anyone sleeping rough. We also base our intelligence on information from the Police/Streetlink and Housing as well as our statutory annual street estimate that is carried out in November each year.

Definition: Number of people identified as sleeping rough, average annual rate per 10,000 population.

Data source and time period: Numerator: Rough Sleeper Team – Property & Support Service, Wiltshire Council. Denominator: Census 2021 population by Output Area (RM121), published at output area (OA) level, allocated to Area Board according to location of OA's population-weighted centroid, and multiplied by 2 for average annual rate. 2021 and 2022, average annual rate.

New homes

New home completions

Over five and a half thousand new homes were completed in Wiltshire in the three years to 2021/22. The highest proportions of these were provided in the Chippenham and Salisbury areas. Please note that the areas shown in the chart above are not an exact match for the Area Board boundaries, so e.g. 'Chippenham' includes developments that are adjacent to the town but lie slightly outside the borders of Chippenham Area Board, etc. Overall housing completions in Wiltshire have exceeded the required levels of housing as set out in the Government’s Housing Delivery Test. This takes into account reduced levels of housing delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Definition: Number of completed new homes.

Data source and time period: Spatial Planning, Wiltshire Council. 2019/20-2021/22.

House sales

Number of house sales

7,758 residential properties were sold in Wiltshire in 2022. This is a large decrease from the number of sales in 2021 (10,990), and is lower than the number of sales in 2018 (8,625) and 2019 (8,375), but higher than the number sold in 2020 (7,469).

Definition: Number of residential property sales. The Land Registry's Price Paid Data includes all residential property sales that are sold for value and lodged with the Land Registry for registration. It does not include sales that have not been lodged with HM Land Registry, sales that were not for value, Vesting Deeds Transmissions or Assents of more than one property, or transfers, conveyances, assignments or leases at a premium with nominal rent, which are: Right to Buy sales at a discount, subject to an existing mortgage, to effect the sale of a share in a property, by way of a gift, under a compulsory purchase order, or under a court order or to Trustees appointed under a Deed of appointment. The figures for each Area Board are calculated based on the postcode of the sold property, mapped via the population-weighted centroid of each postcode's 'best-fit' Output Area to the Area Board. A small number of postcode lookup failures mean the totals provided in the chart do not sum to the Wiltshire totals provided in the text - this variation is very small. Properties with a type 'Other' are excluded from these calculations as they include sales of plots of land. The timeframe describes the date that the transfer deed was lodged with HM Land Registry.

Data source and time period: Land Registry Price Paid Data. 2018-2022.

House prices

Median house prices

The median house price in Wiltshire has increased by 18.5% in the past five years. Marlborough Area Board had the highest median sale price in 2022, at £475,000, while Pewsey, Southern and Malmesbury areas also has a median price of over £400,000. Pewsey, Warminster and Southern community areas have seen the largest proportional increase in median house prices over the past five years (28-32%).

Definition: The Land Registry's Price Paid Data includes all residential property sales that are sold for value and lodged with the Land Registry for registration. It does not include sales that have not been lodged with HM Land Registry, sales that were not for value, Vesting Deeds Transmissions or Assents of more than one property, or transfers, conveyances, assignments or leases at a premium with nominal rent, which are: Right to Buy sales at a discount, subject to an existing mortgage, to effect the sale of a share in a property, by way of a gift, under a compulsory purchase order, or under a court order or to Trustees appointed under a Deed of appointment. The figures for each Area Board are calculated based on the postcode of the sold property, mapped via the population-weighted centroid of each postcode's 'best-fit' Output Area to the Area Board. Properties with a type 'Other' are excluded from these calculations as they include sales of plots of land. The timeframe describes the date that the transfer deed was lodged with HM Land Registry. Medians are calculated at Area Board level.

Data source and time period: Land Registry Price Paid Data. 2018-2022.

Domestic energy efficiency

Energy Performance Certificates

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is required for properties when constructed, sold or let. Low energy ratings of D-G mean householders spend more on energy bills and release more CO2 into the atmosphere than A-C rated homes. This chart shows all EPCs from 2020-22 and suggests a pattern of notably lower energy efficiency among homes in the Pewsey, South West Wiltshire and Malmesbury areas than in the rest of Wiltshire. Warm and Safe Wiltshire is a commitment from Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council and their partners to help residents live in healthier, safer and more energy efficient homes. It aims to do this through, for example, the installation of draught-proofing measures, providing advice on reducing energy use, reducing condensation and damp problems, and controlling heating. For more information, please see the Warm & Safe Wiltshire website.

Definition: Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) describe the energy performance of a property and what can be done to improve it. The chart includes EPCs for all properties that were constructed, let or sold or where a certificate was requested, including those that were certificated more than once.

Data source and time period: Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, Energy Performance of Buildings Data: England and Wales. 2020-2022.

Central heating

Types of central heating

Single or multiple energy sources can fuel central heating systems. Less than 1% of households in Wiltshire have central heating systems that use only renewable energy sources, while an additional 0.8% of households have a mixed source that includes some renewables. It is notable that these proportions are higher in Pewsey and South West Wiltshire community areas, where large numbers of households are not on the mains gas network. Pewsey in particular is also highly reliant on oil, the prices of which can be volatile. For more information on renewables and energy efficiency, please see the Wiltshire Climate Strategy. For practical support with fuel poverty please see the Warm & Safe Wiltshire website.

Definition: This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify occupied household spaces in England and Wales by the type of central heating present. Central heating systems that are unused or not working are still considered. Published at output area (OA) level, allocated to Area Board according to location of OA's population-weighted centroid.

Data source and time period: Office for National Statistics, 2021 Census. Table TS046 Central heating. March 2021.

Fuel poverty

A household is considered to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep their home well-lit, warm, with hot water and running appliances, given their income. In the South West region as a whole, 11.9% of households were estimated to be living in fuel poverty in 2021, compared with 10.4% in Wiltshire. This represents 23,209 households in Wiltshire, with higher proportions in the community areas of South West Wiltshire, Pewsey and Malmesbury. For more information on fuel poverty, please see the Warm & Safe Wiltshire website.

Definition: Percentage of households in fuel poverty. Fuel poverty in England is measured using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) fuel poverty metric, which was set out in the Fuel Poverty Sustainable Warmth strategy published in February 2021. The LILEE indicator considers a household to be fuel poor if: it is living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D, E, F or G as determined by the most up-to-date Fuel Poverty Energy Efficiency Rating (FPEER) Methodology; and its disposable income (income after housing costs (AHC) and energy needs) would be below the poverty line, defined as an equivalised disposable income of less than 60% of the national median. Published at lower super output area (LSOA) level, assigned to Area Board (AB) based on proportion of residential dwellings in each LSOA/AB intersect.

Data source and time period: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, Sub-regional fuel poverty England 2023 (2021 data), Table 3. 2021.

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