Absolute housing mobility

Data on the link in home ownership between people in the UK and their parents.

  1. Summary main findings
  2. By home ownership status of parents
  3. By area
  4. By sex
  5. By disability status
  6. About the data
  7. Download the data

Summary main findings

In the period from 2016 to 2020, 71% of people whose parents were homeowners also owned their own home. 46% of people whose parents were not homeowners owned their own home.

Women were less likely than men to own their own homes. Among people whose parents were homeowners, 64% of women and 75% of men owned their own home. Among people whose parents were not homeowners, 35% of women and 55% of men owned their own homes.

Disabled people were less likely than non-disabled people to own their own homes. Among people whose parents were homeowners, 61% of disabled people and 74% of non-disabled people owned their own home. Among people whose parents were not homeowners, 34% of disabled people and 53% of non-disabled people owned their own home.

Home ownership was lowest in London out of all UK regions. 60% of people in London whose parents were homeowners owned their own home, compared with 35% of people whose parents were not homeowners.

Among people whose parents were not homeowners, home ownership was highest in the South West (where 54% of people owned their own homes) and Wales (52%).

By home ownership status of parents

Visualisation for by home ownership status of parents

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

Data for by home ownership status of parents

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
Ownership status Percentage (%)
Parents are homeowners 70.9
Parents are not homeowners 46.2

Download for by home ownership status of parents

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By area

Visualisation for by area

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by area where respondents live and ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data for by area

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by area where respondents live and ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
Region Parents are homeowners (%) Parents are not homeowners (%)
East Midlands 70.6 48.3
East of England 72.7 45.4
London 59.6 35.3
North East 72.2 45.3
North West 72.1 45.6
Scotland 73.1 49.7
South East 74.9 47.8
South West 72.7 54.0
Wales 72.2 51.9
West Midlands 72.3 46.9
Yorkshire and The Humber 73.0 43.5

Download for by area

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By sex

Visualisation for by sex

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by sex of respondent and ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data for by sex

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by sex of respondent and ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
Ownership status Men (%) Women (%)
Parents are homeowners 75.1 63.9
Parents are not homeowners 54.9 34.9

Download for by sex

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By disability status

Visualisation for by disability status

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by disability status of respondent and ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data for by disability status

Percentage of 25 to 64 year olds who owned their own homes, by disability status of respondent and ownership status of their parents (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
Ownership status Disabled (%) Not disabled (%)
Parents are homeowners 60.7 73.6
Parents are not homeowners 34.2 53.5

Download for by disability status

For the full download file, see Download the data.

About the data

Data source

Office for National Statistics, Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS)

Time period

2016 to 2020 (combined)

Geographic area

UK

What the data measures

The data shows the relationship in home ownership between people aged 25 to 64 years in the UK and their parents.

Things you need to know

Data is weighted using the WAS individual weights.

Data analysed by area uses the area where respondents live now, not where they grew up.

The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. These intervals show where we expect the true value from a population to be 95% of the time. For example, a confidence interval with the range of values from 5 to 10 implies that there is a 95% chance that the true population value is between 5 and 10, and a 5% chance that it is outside of this range. The narrower the confidence interval or range, the more precise the estimate. Read more about confidence intervals

Type of data

Survey data

Full report

Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.

Download the data

Download full dataset (CSV, 6KB)

This file contains the following variables:

  • Indicator code
  • Indicator name
  • Area code
  • Area name
  • Area type
  • Age
  • Socio-economic background
  • Category type
  • Category
  • Value
  • Lower confidence interval
  • Upper confidence interval
  • Sample size
  • Time period
  • Unit
  • Sex

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