Number of households

Inclusive of 0.4% year-on-year growth estimated in 2026, the number of households in the United Kingdom forecast to increase at a compound annual rate of 0.5% over the five-year period through 2026, to total over 28.8 million households. The population size, cultural preferences and the stock of available housing all have an effect on the long-term shift in the number of households. Since comparable records began in 1996 the trend in UK household volumes has been one of continual, year-on-year growth; albeit, year to year, the financial position of individuals and net migration has had a bearing on the rate of growth, causing it to accelerate or otherwise decelerate in accordance with a shift in economic and socio-economic factors. Nevertheless, the continued expansion in the number of UK households can, for the most part, be attributed to the growth of overall UK population and cohabitating couple families.

Estimated by the ONS to be just shy of 67.1 million in mid-2020, the UK population has continued to grow unabated in recent history. Continual population growth has been largely due to a trended increase, albeit deceleration, in life expectancy as a result of improved health awareness and medical innovations, resulting in better health and better health practices among society and, ultimately, helping people to live for longer compared to previous generations. As per ONS data, published in September 2021, the life expectancy at birth in the United Kingdom in 2018 to 2020 was 79 years for males and 82.9 years for females; while this represented a fall of 7.0 weeks for males – the first decline when comparing non-overlapping time periods since series records began in the early-1980s - and almost no change (+0.5 weeks) for females, relative to the latest non-overlapping period (2015 to 2017), the ONS notes that 'the coronavirus pandemic led to a greater number of deaths than normal in 2020…These estimates rely on the assumption that current levels of mortality, which are unusually high, will continue…Once the coronavirus pandemic has ended and its future mortality are known, it is possible that life expectancy will return to an improving trend in the future'.

Simply, the coronavirus pandemic and unusually high mortality has distorted life expectancy estimates under "normal" circumstances. Notwithstanding this, however, the ONS notes 'life expectancy has increased in the UK over the last 40 years [in general], albeit at a slower pace in the last decade'. With people among UK society living longer, and the absolute volume of annual births holding relatively stead year-on-year - this is notwithstanding a trended decline in the total fertility rate to 1.58 children per woman in 2020, from 1.94 in 2010 - the population has naturally inflated. Consequently, the climbing population has been a stable foundation for the continuing growth in the number of households, while cultural shifts and inward migration have facilitated the trend.

Over the past five years, the share of one and two person households has remained relatively consistent, while larger households, notably households consisting of four or five people, have grown; in 2021, the ONS estimated the average size of a household in the United Kingdom to be circa 2.4 people. In recent years, it is presumed economic conditions have encouraged people to co-habit in order to conserve income as rental prices have trended upwards, and as the ease of purchasing homes has been made increasingly difficult in terms of affordability. In particular, the proportion of adults between the ages of 18- and 30-years old living at home has increased significantly. Furthermore, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic induced volatile economic conditions and a cultural shift in society. With regards to the latter, somewhat of a "race to suburbia" trend emerged, whereby many younger individuals and would-be city dwellers either moved back in with their families in a bid to save money, or otherwise emigrated from metropolitan areas where perceived benefits of living in high-density urbanised areas (e.g., close to commuter routes, proximity to bustling areas to satisfy general city lifestyles) were made redundant by stay-at-home orders; post-lockdown, flexible working practices have become commonplace and have further led many to question their desire to move inner-city. Consequently, year-on-year expansion in the number of households has been diluted and held below 1% on an annual basis, largely stemming from pressured affordability for would-be homeowners and the trend towards co-habit living, but also due to the aforementioned trickle-down ramifications for society pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic.