Relative housing mobility

Published: 12 September 2023

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

Summary main findings

Since 1991, relative housing mobility has gone down. This means the link in home ownership between people and their parents has got stronger.

In the period from 2016 to 2020, relative housing mobility was lower among women than men. It was also lower among disabled people than non-disabled people.

There were no significant differences in relative housing mobility between UK regions.


By year

Visualisation

Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents (UK, 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2016 to 2020 combined)

Data

Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents (UK, 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2016 to 2020 combined)
Year Odds ratio
2016 to 2020 4.59
2011 3.79
2001 3.17
1991 2.88
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    By area

    Visualisation

    Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents, by region (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

    Data

    Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents, by region (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
    Region Odds ratio
    Yorkshire and The Humber 3.5
    South East 3.3
    East of England 3.2
    North East 3.1
    North West 3.1
    West Midlands 3.0
    Scotland 2.7
    London 2.7
    East Midlands 2.6
    Wales 2.4
    South West 2.3
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    By sex

    Visualisation

    Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents, by sex (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

    Data

    Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents, by sex (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
    Sex Odds ratio
    Men 2.5
    Women 3.3
    Total 2.8
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    By disability

    Visualisation

    Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents, by disability status (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)

    Data

    Odds ratios of the relationship in home ownership between people and their parents, by disability status (UK, 2016 to 2020 combined)
    Disabled Odds ratio
    Yes 3.0
    No 2.4
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    About the data

    Data source

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

    Brian Bell and others, ‘Where is the land of hope and glory? The geography of intergenerational mobility in England and Wales’, 2018.

    Time period

    1991, 2001, 2011, 2016 to 2017, and 2018 to 2020

    Geographic area

    UK

    What the data measures

    The data shows the link in home ownership between people in the UK and their parents.

    Things you need to know

    Values are shown as odds ratios. A higher odds ratio means a stronger link in home ownership between people and their parents and lower housing mobility. A lower odds ratio means a weaker link and greater relative housing mobility.

    Data is weighted using the WAS individual weights.

    Logistic regression modelling confirms that there was:

    • a statistically significant difference between the relative housing mobility of men and women
    • a statistically significant difference between the relative housing mobility of those with and without a disability
    • no statistically significant difference between relative housing mobility between different regions

    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

    State of the Nation 2024 does not include updates to this page.

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


    Download the data

    Download full dataset (CSV, 3KB)

    This file contains the following variables:

    • Indicator code
    • Indicator name
    • Area type
    • Area code
    • Area name
    • Time period
    • Age
    • Sex
    • Category type
    • Category
    • Value
    • Lower confidence interval
    • Upper confidence interval
    • Unit

    Page history

    Publication release date:

    12 September 2023