How old are UK homes?

We stumbled across an interesting statista report recently which provided a really useful overview of the age of the average property in the UK.

While we might find it interesting, it is most relevant because of the recent research from the office of national statistics which shows that older properties are more likely to have a lower EPC rating.

8 million older homes

There are currently 8 million ‘older’ homes in the UK. These are those that have been built before 1944. Of these properties around ¼ are in the private rented sector and of these the majority were built before 1919.

Of the properties which were built before that date 1.3 million are currently rental properties, while just 518,000 were built between 1919 and 1944.

Landlords own fewer new homes

At the other end of the scale, there are 5 million new homes (built after 1991) of which 2.8 million were constructed in the years after 2003. Of these 5 million homes only 18% were private rentals (19% of the homes built after 2003).

Newer properties have higher energy performance ratings

Recent data from the office of national statistics demonstrates that newer properties – those built after 2012, have a much higher energy efficiency rating. The current median rating for a property in England and Wales is a D.

However, the research shows that newer properties achieve a median rating of B, while properties built before 1900 had a rating of E.

The landlord challenge

By 2025 landlords will require an EPC rating of C or above for new tenancies and this will be required of all tenancies by 2028. This is a significant challenge in any case, however, given that landlords are more likely to own older housing stock, the implications are greater.

You can find out the best and most cost-effective way to improve your EPC rating on www.epc-improve.co.uk.   

You can access the full statistics on the age of the UK housing stock here https://www.statista.com/