Scotland’s Census 2022 - Housing

An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland

Published: 22 August 2024

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This report presents census data on housing and people living in communal establishments. These statistics show how Scotland’s people, and where they live, are changing. 

Census data will help government, charities and other service providers to understand more about the needs of people in Scotland.

Tenure: owning or renting 

Census data on tenure describes whether a household rents or owns the accommodation they live in.  

The census figures in this section are counts of households (groups of people). They are not counts of the accommodation (actual houses, flats, etc.). And they do not include empty properties. The Scottish Government publishes data on housing stocks which provides a better indication of housing supply by tenure. 

In 2022 there were 2,509,300 households with at least one usual resident. This is up 136,500 (5.8%) from the 2011 census. 

On Census Day around two thirds (63.2%) of households in Scotland owned their home (1,585,800 households). Around one third (35.4%) of households rented their home (887,600). Around one household in a hundred (1.4%) lived rent free (35,900).  

The number of households that owned their home outright increased compared to previous censuses. In 2022 851,100 (33.9%) of households owned outright compared to 660,600 (27.8%) in 2011 and 513,600 (23.4%) in 2001. Census data suggests this is related to Scotland’s ageing population. There are more older people living in Scotland. Home owners in older age groups are likely to have had longer to pay off their mortgage. 

There has been a decrease in the number of households who own with a mortgage. This is related to the increase in households owning outright. Most of these households are likely to have had a mortgage and paid it off. 

The number of households that were renting increased in 2022 to 887,600. This is up 16,300 (1.9%) since 2011 (871,300 households).  This was driven by an increase in households privately renting. There were 323,000 households privately renting in 2022. This is up 28,200 (9.5%) compared to 2011 (294,900). Data on the number of registered landlords and properties is published by the Scottish Government as part of the quarterly Scottish Landlord Register data. 

In the same period the number of households in social rented accommodation decreased, to 564,500 in 2022. This is down 11,900 (2.1%) since 2011. However data on housing stocks shows that the supply of social sector housing increased by over 23,000 units between 2011 and 2022 (Chart 7, Housing Statistics 2022 & 2023: Key Trends Summary, Supporting documents, Scottish Government).

We can look at census data on tenure by age. To do this we choose one household reference person (HRP) for each household. We can then use their age to analyse the data on tenure. We will be able to use data on other characteristics of the HRP to analyse tenure data later in 2024. More information on how HRPs are chosen is available in the census metadata. The HRP can generally be thought of as the ‘householder’.

Analysis by age shows that the increase in households owning outright is related to the ageing population in Scotland. The majority of the increase in households owning outright was due to increases in older age groups. Home owners in older age groups are likely to have had longer to pay off their mortgage.

There were 135,200 more householders aged 65 and over owning outright in 2022, compared to 2011. Around two thirds (67.5%) of householders aged 65 owned outright.

The majority of homes owned outright (58.4%) had a householder aged 65 and over. This has increased compared to 2011 (54.8%). Around nine in ten households owning outright had a householder aged 50 and over.

The overall percentage of households who owned their home (63.2%) increased slightly since 2011 (62.0%). There were also relatively small changes within age groups but the overall pattern was relatively similar to 2011.

Overcrowding and under-occupancy  

The census collects information on the number of people in each household. It also collects information on the number of bedrooms in each household’s accommodation. 

We can use this information to work out whether a household has the required number of bedrooms. We work this out using the 'bedroom standard' from the Housing (Overcrowding) Bill 2003. 

If a household has more bedrooms than it needs, it is described as under-occupied. It will have an occupancy rating of +1 or higher. A rating of +1 means one more bedroom than required. A rating of +2 means two more bedrooms than required. 

If a household has fewer bedrooms than it needs, it is described as overcrowded. It will have an occupancy rating of -1 or lower. A rating of -1 means one fewer bedroom than required. 

More information on occupancy ratings and the bedroom standard is provided in the census metadata. It is important to note that households may not consider themselves to be overcrowded or under-occupied although the bedroom standard describes them as such. 

In 2022 70.3% of households had more bedrooms than required (1,763,000). Around one in forty households (2.4%) had fewer bedrooms than required (59,300). Just over a quarter (27.4%) of households were in line with the standard (687,100).  

Census data from England and Wales shows relatively similar percentages to Scotland. In 2021 69.2% of households were under-occupied, 4.3% were overcrowded and 26.5% were in line with the standard. 

Under-occupied households 

In this section we look at households with an occupancy rating of +2 or higher. In 2022 just under one third (32.2%) of households had at least 2 more bedrooms than required. 

Figure 3 shows the percentage of households in each council area that had at least 2 more bedrooms than required.  

Island council areas tended to have higher rates of under-occupancy. Between 40% and 51% of households in island council areas had an occupancy rating of 2+. Other council areas in the north and south of Scotland had similar rates. 

Na h-Eileanan Siar (50.6%), Aberdeenshire (45.6%), Shetland Islands (44.5%) and Orkney Islands (44.1%) had the highest percentage of households with at least 2 more bedrooms than required. 

These council areas tended to have lower population density. They had a lot more households living in houses than flats, and more bedrooms on average. They also had relatively more people in older age groups.