Census - housing results published

Scotland's ageing population is driving up the number of households who own their home mortgage-free, according to new statistics from the 2022 Census. 

In the latest census report, 851,100 households owned their homes outright - up 28.8% on the 2011 figure. Around two thirds of householders aged 65 and over were living mortgage-free.

National Records of Scotland Director of Census Statistics, Jon Wroth-Smith, said: 

“With the passing of time, many of today's over 65s will have had the opportunity to pay off their mortgage. We see this in today’s figures which show that more households in Scotland are mortgage-free than a decade ago.” 

The census did not show a major change in the number of younger people owning their home. 

The report on housing also shows that although the number of older people in Scotland increased, the number of people living in care homes has fallen by 14.5% to 30,800. This decrease may be explained by the Scottish Government moving towards supporting older people to live independently at home.

Elsewhere the statistics showed an increase in people renting privately - up 9.5% to 323,000 households. There was a small decrease in households in social rented accommodation. The report notes that the census counts households and not housing stock, some of which may have been vacant at the time of the count. Data on housing stocks shows that the supply of social sector housing increased between 2011 and 2022.

More than 70% of households lived in homes with at least one more bedroom than required. Just under one third (32.2%) of households had at least 2 more bedrooms than required. Across Scotland 2.4% of households had fewer bedrooms than required and could be considered overcrowded. In Glasgow City one in 20 households were overcrowded (4.7%). 

The number of people in student accommodation or halls of residence increased by 68% - up 22,600. This is in line with rising numbers of people studying in Scotland. 

This is the fifth of seven reports on different topics from the census to be released. The last two reports, which will include information on education, travel to work, health and disability will be published in September and early October.

ENDS 

Notes

The full report can be found on the Scotland’s Census website and the data tables which include breakdowns by local authority and other geographies can be accessed from the data tab on the home page. 

The Bedroom Standard used in the report is from the Housing (Overcrowding) Bill 2003. 

Guidance on the census questionnaire stated a household can be:

• one person living alone, or 
• a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area.