The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
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Posted on 06 September 2019 by Joseph Cant, Senior Researcher

Can social housing continue to support the homeless?

It has been 100 years since the Addison Act, the landmark bill which saw the large-scale national expansion of public housing just after World War I. A lot has changed over the last century, but the social rented sector continues to be an important tenure option. This blog looks at the role of social housing in context of the homelessness crisis and what might happen if current tenure trends continue.
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Tags: English Housing Survey, homelessness, housing, renting
Posted on 17 July 2019 by Melanie Doyle, Research Director

Private renters and savings: Are private renters ready to buy?

Private renters make up around a fifth of all households in England – around 4.5 million households in total – and this sector is traditionally viewed as a transition into home ownership. But how well do this group’s savings reflect their buying aspirations?
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Tags: English Housing Survey, home ownership, housing, renting
Posted on 05 April 2018 by Kirby Swales, Director of Survey Research Centre

Improving and using data on income at the small area level

Measuring change in household and individual income is a key aim of many social surveys and social policy analyses. The latest official data shows a small rise in income for the latest available year, after a number of years of stagnating or even declining incomes.
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Tags: consumer data, ONS, housing, income
Posted on 22 November 2017 by NatCen, Research

NatCen Insights: Autumn Budget 2017

Today, Philip Hammond delivered his Autumn Budget. Here we use NatCen data to shed light on how the announcements are likely to be received by the public.
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Tags: British Social Attitudes, NHS, alcohol, budget, general election, housing
Posted on 14 November 2017 by Melanie Doyle, Research Director

Fifty years of homes and housing

The English Housing Survey is 50 years old. Melanie Doyle-Francis blogs about how housing conditions have changed over the last half century and how the survey's design is ket to its success.
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Tags: EHS, English Housing Survey, housebuying, housing, housing market, renting
Posted on 04 October 2017 by Robert Wishart, Senior Researcher

Relying on the “Bank of Mum and Dad” for help buying a home is the new norm

Our research for Yorkshire Building Society found that young people aspire to own their home, but are relying on financial support from family members to do so.
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Tags: bank of mum and dad, first-time buyer, housing, housing market
Posted on 01 June 2017 by NatCen, Research

NatCen on the Election: Homing in on Housebuilding

Both Labour and the Conservatives have set out their stalls on how they will mend the 'dysfunctional' housing market. But do the promises they make reflect what the public really want?
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Tags: NatCen on the Election, housebuying, housing
Posted on 17 October 2016 by Lydia Marshall, Research Director

Defining and measuring housing affordability in the private rented sector

Despite widespread concern about housing affordability in the UK, there is currently little consensus about what is actually meant by ‘affordability’. Lydia Marshall proposes a solution.
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Tags: housing, renting
Posted on 21 July 2016 by Alun Humphrey, Director

Housing in England

Today sees the publication of the latest report of DCLG’s English Housing Survey, which includes findings from the 2014-15 survey.
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Tags: English Housing Survey, homes, benefits system, first-time buyer, home ownership, housing, housing benefit, housing market
Posted on 13 November 2015 by NatCen, Research

Event Summary: Social implications of a changing housing market

As part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science, NatCen hosted an event examining the social implications of the housing market. The seminar took place at the Geffrye Museum of the Home in Hackney, at the heart of London’s housing bubble. We look back on the event’s highlights.
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Tags: English Housing Survey, bank of mum and dad, housing, housing market, social science