United Kingdom Residential Real Estate Statistics
United Kingdom Real Estate Landscape
The UK residential real estate market valued at approximately US$17.85 trillion in 2024 is projected to grow steadily, reaching an estimated US$19.96 trillion by 2028. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.83% over the forecast period from 2024 to 2028.
In 2023, 84.1% of households in the UK resided in urban areas. This trend is expected to continue, with the percentage of urban households projected to increase to 85.1% by 2027. However, urbanisation in the UK has already reached its peak, and the rate of urbanisation growth is expected to decelerate over the forecast period. Overall, the total number of households in the UK is anticipated to expand by 2.0% over the forecast period, reaching 29.0 million by 2027.
Data Source [2]
Types of Housing
*Single-family consists of dwelling types such as houses, semi-detached, detached, terrace etc.
*Multi-family consists of dwelling types such as apartments in buildings.
Data Source [2]
The most common type of housing in the UK is single-family homes. The average household lives in a semi-detached or terraced house with five or more rooms, with the typical dwelling size ranging from 60 to 69 square meters. Although houses are expected to remain the predominant housing type worldwide from 2022 to 2027, the rise in single-person households, urbanisation, and limited urban space will drive increased demand for apartments.
There are 7 main types of housing in UK:
- Detached
- Detached houses don’t share any walls with other homes and they tend to offer a lot more privacy than other types of property in the UK
- However, they tend to be much more expensive than semi-detached and terraced properties
- Semi-detached
- A semi-detached house is a home that’s connected to a similar property on one side but detached on the other side.
- They are usually much cheaper than detached properties
- Terrace
- A terraced house is a property that’s connected to a row of other houses
- Privacy is compromised as both sides of your home will be connected to your neighbor’s properties
- Caters to smaller budget too
- End-of-terrace
- Similar to a semi, only one side of the house shares a common wall, while the other is detached
- Bungalow
- A bungalow is a one-storey detached home; some may have a 2nd storey built into a sloping roof, also known as dormer bungalows
- Bungalows are commonly associated with retirees looking to downsize. However, it is becoming increasingly popular among young people too due to rising house prices.
- Cottage
- Originally located in rural locations but can now be found in large towns and even cities
- Prices vary depending on size, maintenance and popularity of the location. → Large cottages that are well maintained and located in popular areas usually come with a big price tag.
- Flats
- A flat is a self-contained space that’s within a larger building; usually single storey but sometimes possible to find 2-storey flats with your own front door
- Ideal for single people, couples or small families
- Tend to be much cheaper than houses in the same area
Average House Prices
Average house price in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2010 to 2023, by type of property:
Average home prices in the UK predicted to rise 1.8% for this year and gain another 3.0% or so in 2025.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| England | 246380 | 248097 | 264971 | 285784 | 308721 | 302164 |
| Wales | 162234 | 166433 | 181274 | 201586 | 219374 | 213816 |
| Scotland | 148269 | 150287 | 162375 | 177057 | 184245 | 190341 |
| Northern Ireland | 136764 | 140141 | 147475 | 159073 | 175124 | 177611 |
England has consistently been the region with the highest housing prices. This trend highlights the premium value of property in England compared to other areas.
Housing Supply & Regional Variation
A total of 210,440 dwellings were completed in the financial year ending in March 2023, with the following number of dwellings completed in each country:
| Total (UK) | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
| Started (2022-23) | 202,380 | 172,350 | 4,560 | 19,420 | 6,050 |
| Completed
(2022-23) |
210,440 | 174,440 | 5,790 | 23,800 | 6,410 |
Opportunities & Challenges
Opportunities
Work-From-Home (WFH) Trend
The shift towards remote work continues to drive demand for larger properties equipped with home offices, presenting lucrative prospects for residential property developers and investors to meet evolving preferences.
Build-to-Rent (BTR) Sector
Despite a decline in overall Build-to-Rent (BTR) investment in 2023, the sector is poised for a rebound, notably with single-family BTR seeing increased investment levels. Currently, approximately 100,000 BTR homes have been completed across the UK, marking a 19% rise from the previous year, with an additional 67,000 under construction and 77,000 granted full planning permission, expanding the sector to 244,000 homes in total. Despite this growth, completed BTR homes only make up 1.7% of total privately renting households, indicating substantial room for expansion within the UK rental market. This underscores a significant opportunity for homebuilders to enter or expand in the BTR sector, catering to the increasing demand for rental properties designed for long-term occupancy.
Challenges:
Planning and regulatory challenges are significantly limiting housing supply. A major issue is the absence of local development plans, which causes lengthy delays in land approvals for house-builders. This problem is compounded by new fire safety regulations that have further slowed down planning activities. For instance, in London, the average time to grant a planning application increased to nearly 18 months in 2023, compared to just over six months a decade ago. This has resulted in a nearly 60% drop in new home permissions across the capital in 2023.
Additionally, high interest rates and mortgage rates have led to a decline in property sales. UK residential deals fell by 20% year-on-year in December 2023, primarily due to a decrease in buyers with mortgages. This environment is making developers hesitant to invest without assured returns.
Conclusion
Policymakers must consider the changing demographic landscape, particularly the projected increase in the population of 25-to 34-year-olds, who show a preference for Build-to-Rent (BTR) housing. This underscores the importance of planning to ensure the availability of suitable housing types and tenures that meet the evolving needs of this demographic shift.
For house-builders, the housing shortage presents a significant opportunity. The increased demand for homes allows them to boost production and capitalise on the market’s need for more housing.
Sources:
[1] https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/residential-real-estate-market-in-united-kingdom
[2] https://www.statista.com/outlook/fmo/real-estate/residential-real-estate/united-kingdom
[3] https://www.euromonitor.com/households-the-uk/report
[4] https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/housepriceindex/december2023
[7] https://www.tembomoney.com/learn/what-are-the-different-types-of-houses-uk
