Social landlord housing stock and rents: as at 31 March 2023
Number of housing units owned or partly owned and managed by all social landlords as at 31 March 2023.
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In this page
Introduction
This release is based on information collected annually from all Welsh social landlords.
Information is presented on the amount and type of stock owned or partly owned by all Welsh social landlords as at 31 March 2023 including social housing and other types of housing. It also provides information on the average weekly rents for all self-contained social housing units as set at 1 April 2023 for the following financial year, 2023-24.
Historical data for this collection can be found on the StatsWales website.
Main points
Social landlord housing stock are housing units (including bedsits and bed spaces) owned or partly owned and managed by the 11 stock-retaining local authorities and by all Welsh Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).
This includes both social housing and other types of housing.
Stock
There continued to be a slight increase (1%) in social housing stock in Wales with 238,966 social housing units (including bedsits and bed spaces) at 31 March 2023, compared with 237,373 (r) in the previous year.
Of these, RSLs owned 63% and local authorities owned the remaining 37%, which was similar to recent years.
At 31 March 2023, there were a further 16,551 other types of housing units owned or partly owned and managed by social landlords in Wales, of which 98% were owned or managed by RSLs.
Rents
The average rent set by local authorities as at 1 April 2023 for 2023-24 for
all self-contained social housing (general needs, sheltered, other supported and extra care) was £105.08 per week. This is an increase of 6% compared to 2022-23. The corresponding average rent set by RSLs for 2023-24 was £107.34 per week. This was also an increase of 6% compared to 2022-23.
The gap between local authority and RSL average weekly rent levels has remained close over recent years. For 2023-24 RSL average weekly rent was higher by £2.26.
(r) Figures for 2021 to 2022 revised since original publication. Further information can be found in the Quality report.
Introduction
This release analyses data on all social landlord housing stock which include the following:
Housing at social rents
This includes self-contained general needs (including self-contained bedsits) and self-contained sheltered housing let by social landlords at social rent under the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard. This is an agreed rental system which sets a maximum rent threshold for social landlords.
Other social housing
This incudes self-contained ‘other supported’ housing, self-contained extra care housing and non-self-contained bed sits and hostel bed spaces. These are not subject to the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard.
Other housing units
Housing units let at intermediate rent levels (including rent first) where the rents are above those of social rented housing but below market housing rents including shared ownership; flexible tenure for the elderly; housing let at market rents; Homebuy and other investment housing.
Further information can be found in the Quality report.
Social housing stock
At 31 March 2023 there were a total of 238,966 social housing units in Wales. Of these, 95% (227,068) were self-contained general need or sheltered housing units which were rented from Welsh social landlords at social rents (as regulated by the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard). The remaining 5% (11,898) were social housing units not covered by the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard but still classed as social housing.
RSLs owned 63% (150,437 units) of all social housing units at 31 March 2023 and the 11 stock retaining authorities owned the remaining 37% (88,529 units).
Figure 1: Percentage of all social housing units by type as at 31 March 2023
Description of Figure 1: A doughnut chart showing that 84% of all social housing units in Wales were general needs accommodation in 2023, followed by sheltered housing with 11%.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
Total stock at social rent by local authority area and accommodation type (StatsWales)
| Social Landlords | Total social rented housing | Total 'other' social housing | Total social housing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local authorities | |||
| 2018-19 | 85,596 | 1,808 | 87,404 |
| 2019-20 | 85,545 | 1,779 | 87,324 |
| 2020-21 | 85,663 | 1,896 | 87,559 |
| 2021-22 | 85,798 | 2,129 | 87,927 |
| 2022-23 | 86,298 | 2,231 | 88,529 |
| RSLs | |||
| 2018-19 | 134,986 | 9,018 | 144,004 |
| 2019-20 [2] | - | - | - |
| 2020-21 | 138,639 | 9,201 | 147,840 |
| 2021-22 (r) | 139,610 | 9,836 | 149,446 |
| 2022-23 | 140,770 | 9,667 | 150,437 |
| All social landlords | |||
| 2018-19 | 220,582 | 10,826 | 231,408 |
| 2019-20 [2] | 85,545 | 1,779 | 87,324 |
| 2020-21 | 224,302 | 11,097 | 235,399 |
| 2021-22 (r) | 225,408 | 11,965 | 237,373 |
| 2022-23 | 227,068 | 11,898 | 238,966 |
Description of Table 1: A table showing that the total number of social housing units has increased each year over the last 3 years, with the breakdown between social rented housing and ‘other’ social housing remaining fairly constant.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
For further breakdowns see: Total stock (including non social housing stock) by local authority area and accommodation type (StatsWales)
[Note 1] Excludes data for English RSLs with stock in Wales. As at March 2023, they owned an estimated 207 units of stock in Wales.
[Note 2] Due to COVID-19, data for RSLs were not collected in 2019-20.
(r) Data for 2021-22 has been revised since previously published.
‘-‘ = not available
Housing at social rents
The bulk of housing units at social rents continued to be self-contained general needs accommodation (including self-contained bedsits), which is not designated for any specific users, and accounted for 89% (201,819) of all the 227,068 social rented housing units at 31 March 2023.
The remaining 11% (25,249) were self-contained sheltered housing units (including self-contained bedsits) for those with specific needs due to age, disability or other vulnerability. These were similar to the proportions seen in 2021-22.
Local authorities had a slightly higher percentage of self-contained sheltered housing units within their stock compared to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), accounting for 12% (compared to 10% of RSL stock) of all their social rented stock at 31 March 2023.
Other social housing
At 31 March 2023 there were 11,898 other social housing units across Wales which were not covered by the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard. RSLs continued to hold the majority of these units, accounting for 81% (9,667 units).
At 31 March 2023, the majority (64%) of other social housing units were self-contained, where the accommodation is occupied by a household with exclusive use of bath/shower and inside WC and some cooking facilities. The remaining 36% (4,301 units) were non-self-contained units, comprising bedsits (161 units) and hostel bed spaces (4,140 units).
64% of the self-contained units were ‘other supported’ housing (4,900 units). These housing units formed 86% of the local authorities’ other social housing stock, which was much higher than that for RSLs (31%).
The remaining 36% of self-contained units (2,697 units) were extra care housing units which offer a higher level of care than ‘sheltered housing’. The services offered vary between schemes but can include the provision of meals, help with domestic tasks and other personal care. At 31 March 2023, all of the self-contained extra care housing units were owned and managed by RSLs.
The numbers of non-self-contained hostel bed spaces decreased by 4% between 2021-22 and 2022-23 (from 4,314 to 4,140 units). The numbers of self-contained ‘other supported’ housing units increased by 2% (from 4,787 to 4,900) in the same period.
There were 20% fewer non-self-contained bedsits in March 2023 than in March 2022, down to 161 units. The majority of these units (104 units, 65%) were owned by RSLs. Social housing by local authority area
Figure 2 below shows the rate of all social housing (both housing at social rents and other social housing combined) per 100 households at an individual local authority level.
Figure 2: Rate of all social housing units per 100 households as at 31 March 2023 [Note 1]
Description of Figure 2: A bar chart showing that the majority of urban local authorities have higher rates of social housing units per 100 households than rural local authorities. 9 local authorities have a higher rate than the Wales average.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
Total social housing stock by local authority area and provider type (StatsWales)
[Note 1] Mid-2020 Household estimates for Wales produced by the Welsh Government are used in this release to calculate the rate of social housing units per 100 households. These estimates are available from the StatsWales website.
Taking into account the number of households in each local authority area, the authorities with the highest rates of all social housing (social rented and other social housing) per 100 households were Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent (at 25.4 and 25.2 respectively). Ceredigion had the lowest at 11.2, followed by Conwy at 12.2 (Figure 2).
The rate of all social housing units per 100 households continued to be higher in urban than in rural authorities, particularly some of the south Wales valley authorities including Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil, whilst all nine rural authorities continued to record rates below the Wales average of 17.3 units per 100 households.
| Local authorities | Total social rented housing | Total 'other' social housing | Total social housing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isle of Anglesey | 4,879 | 228 | 5,107 |
| Gwynedd | 8,447 | 429 | 8,876 |
| Conwy | 5,973 | 523 | 6,496 |
| Denbighshire | 5,433 | 494 | 5,927 |
| Flintshire | 9,917 | 519 | 10,436 |
| Wrexham | 13,050 | 431 | 13,481 |
| Powys | 8,647 | 256 | 8,903 |
| Ceredigion | 3,327 | 204 | 3,531 |
| Pembrokeshire | 7,453 | 1,281 | 8,734 |
| Carmarthenshire | 12,417 | 399 | 12,816 |
| Swansea | 21,450 | 756 | 22,206 |
| Neath Port Talbot | 12,379 | 370 | 12,749 |
| Bridgend | 8,915 | 403 | 9,318 |
| The Vale of Glamorgan | 6,931 | 904 | 7,835 |
| Cardiff | 25,564 | 1,866 | 27,430 |
| Rhondda Cynon Taf | 15,547 | 654 | 16,201 |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 5,740 | 127 | 5,867 |
| Caerphilly | 14,875 | 341 | 15,216 |
| Blaenau Gwent | 7,724 | 167 | 7,891 |
| Torfaen | 9,294 | 1,056 | 10,350 |
| Monmouthshire | 5,675 | 96 | 5,771 |
| Newport | 13,431 | 394 | 13,825 |
| Wales | 227,068 | 11,898 | 238,966 |
Description of Table 2: A table showing the breakdown of social rented housing and ‘other’ social housing in each local authority.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
For further breakdowns, please see: Total stock (including non social housing stock) by local authority area and accommodation type (StatsWales).
[Note 1] Includes self-contained general needs, sheltered and extra care housing, non-self-contained bedsits and non-self-contained hostels.
[Note 2] Excludes data for English RSLs with stock in Wales. As at March 2022, they owned an estimated 208 units of stock in Wales (note that this figure is provisional and may change ahead of the final release).
Housing at social rents by local authority area
At both a Wales and individual local authority level, the majority (between 72% and 98%) of all social rented housing was self-contained general needs accommodation, with 12 local authorities having more than 90% in general needs accommodation. Torfaen had the highest percentage at 98%.
The percentage of all social rented housing that was self-contained sheltered housing varied between 2% and 28% at a local authority level. For Flintshire, Powys and Denbighshire this type of accommodation accounted for a quarter or more of all social rented housing (28%, 25% and 25% respectively).
Other social housing by local authority area
At a Wales level, 41% (4,900 units) of other social housing units were self-contained ‘other supported’ housing and just under a quarter (23%, 2,697 units) were self-contained extra care housing.
The remaining 36% of ‘other social housing’ units across Wales were made up of 161 non-self-contained bedsits and 4,140 non self-contained hostel bed spaces. At a local authority level, Cardiff recorded the highest number of non-self-contained bedsits (65 units), followed by Swansea (27 units) whilst none were recorded in 12 of the 22 local authorities.
The numbers and proportions of self-contained ‘other supported’ housing and self-contained extra care housing varied considerably by local authority. The proportion of self-contained ‘other supported’ housing ranged from 89% in Torfaen to just 7% in Denbighshire. The proportion of self-contained extra care housing ranged from 51% in Isle of Anglesey, Blaenau Gwent and Ceredigion, to 5% in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Cardiff and Swansea continued to record the highest numbers of non-self-contained hostel bed spaces at 903 (down from 910) and 343 (down from 387) units respectively.
‘Other housing’ stock owned or managed by social landlords
At 31 March 2023, there were 16,551 housing units owned or partly owned and managed by social landlords which were not classed as ‘social housing’. This is an increase of 7% (1,072 units) compared to 31 March 2022 and of these, 98% were owned or partly owned and managed by RSLs (Table 3).
At a Wales level, at 31 March 2023, 35% (5,730 units) of other housing units owned or managed by social landlords were housing units let at intermediate rents. Furthermore, 28% of other housing units (4,638 units) were let at market rent.
12% (1,929 units) of all other social housing units were Homebuy, which comprises housing where the social landlord has provided a loan to a previous tenant to purchase the housing unit outright; although the former landlord holds no equity stake in the stock, finance has been provided and remains outstanding.
Shared ownership housing units accounted for 10% (1,728 units) and a further 15% (2,435 units) were other investment housing.
There were only 91 (just under 1%) flexible tenure housing units for the elderly across Wales at 31 March 2023 (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Percentage of All Other Housing Units by Type as at 31 March 2023 [Note 1]
Description of Figure 3: A doughnut chart showing the breakdown of all other housing units. Over half of all these units are made up of intermediate rent and properties at market rents.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
[Note 1] Due to rounding, some figures may not add up to 100%.
At 31 March 2023, social landlord owned housing units let at market rent levels continued to be largely concentrated in just three authorities. Just under a third were recorded in Ceredigion (1,497 units) and Swansea (1,399 units) and a quarter in Gwynedd (1,150 units). These units are predominantly student accommodation owned by one registered social landlord. 4 local authorities (Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire and Rhondda Cynon Taff) had no social landlord owned housing units let at market rent.
At 31 March 2023, half of the intermediate rented housing units was shared across 4 local authorities:15% were in Cardiff (860 units), a further 14% (824 units) were recorded in Newport, 11% (634 units) in Pembrokeshire and 10% (568 units) in Swansea.
The Vale of Glamorgan recording the highest proportion of Homebuy housing units at 13%, followed by Gwynedd at 12%.Six LAs recorded less than 1%.
Cardiff, Newport and Conwy local authorities continued to hold the highest proportion of shared ownership housing units with 21%, 16% and 11% respectively.
Over half of the other investment housing units were mainly concentrated in just three local authorities with 35% (844 units) recorded in Cardiff, 13% (308 units) in Torfaen and 12% (281 units) in The Vale of Glamorgan. Pembrokeshire had no recorded other investment housing units.
Almost two-thirds (64%) of the 91 flexible tenure for the elderly housing units at 31 March 2023 were in Conwy. This may be influenced by the fact that in Conwy over a quarter (27%) of the population were aged 65 or over in 2021[Note 2] compared to just 21% of the population of Wales. 17 of the 22 local authorities recorded no flexible tenures for the elderly housing units.
[Note 2] Mid year population estimates by local authority and age available on StatsWales.
Data is available on the StatsWales website. Social housing stock and rents (StatsWales)
Social housing rents
This release only presents information on the average weekly rents charged for self-contained social housing units. Self-contained housing units cover accommodation which is occupied by a household with exclusive use of bath/shower, inside WC and some cooking facilities.
Further information can be found in the quality report.
Rents for all self-contained social housing units
Figures 4 & 5 present information on the average weekly rents charged by both the 11 stock retaining local authorities and all RSLs for all self-contained social housing units. This includes self-contained general needs and sheltered housing units subject to the Rents Policy as well as other self-contained social housing including ‘other’ supported housing and extra care units.
The 2023-24 average weekly rents set (at 1 April 2023) for all the 88,211 self-contained social housing units owned and managed by local authorities was £105.08. This was 2% lower than £107.34 average weekly rent set for the 146,454 self-contained social housing units owned and managed by RSLs.
RSL average weekly rent levels have been consistently higher than local authority average weekly rent levels for a number of years, mainly due to historic differences in rent setting policies. From April 2015 onwards, however, the same rent setting policy has applied to both RSLs and local authorities. It is also noticeable that RSLs tend to have a higher percentage of 4- and 5-bedroom units than local authorities and these inevitably attract a higher average weekly rent.
Figure 4: Average weekly rents (£s) of all self-contained social housing units owned and managed by Welsh social landlords, 2003-04 to 2023-24 [Note 1] [Note 2]
Description of Figure 4: A line graph showing that for all self-contained social housing units, the average weekly rent price for both local authorities and registered social landlords has increased each year between 2003-04 and 2023-24. Registered social landlords’ average weekly rents has remained consistently higher than local authorities.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
[Note 1] Includes self-contained general needs, sheltered, other supported and extra care housing. Excludes all non-self-contained social housing units, non-self-contained bedsits and non-self-contained hostels. Excludes all non-social housing units.
[Note 2] The rents relate to the position at 1 April before the financial year commences.
[Note 3] No RSL data collected for 2020-21 due to COVID-19
(r) Data has been revised since previously published.
Local authority rents set for 2023-24 for all self-contained social housing averaged £105.08 per week, which is an increase of 6% on 2022-23. This compares with a 3% increase between 2020-21 and 2021-22.
RSL rents set for 2023-24 for all self-contained social housing averaged £107.34 per week, which is an increase of 6% on 2022-23. This compares with a 3% increase in RSL rents 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The average weekly rent for RSL self-contained social housing units for 2022-23 was £2.26 higher than for local authority self-contained social housing units. This gap was slightly more than the difference of £1.73 in 2021-22 and £1.56 in 2020-21, but lower than the figure for 2016-17 (£2.45 per week) suggesting that the gap between local authority and RSL average weekly rent levels has been broadly closing.
Figure 5 below shows average weekly rents for the different types of self-contained local authority and RSL social housing units in Wales, including general needs, sheltered, ‘other supported’ and ‘extra care’ housing.
Rents charged for self-contained extra care housing may be significantly higher, on average, than those charged for self-contained general needs, sheltered and ‘other supported’ housing, depending on the type of extra care scheme and type of services provided. The services offered vary between schemes, but meals, help with domestic tasks and some personal care are often provided for extra care housing.
Figure 5: Average weekly rents (£’s) of all Welsh social landlord self-contained social housing units for 2023-24 by type of housing [Note 1] [Note 2]
Description of Figure 5: A bar chart showing the average weekly rent comparison of local authority and registered social landlord self-contained social housing units. Registered social landlord extra care units were considerably higher than any other housing type.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
Average weekly rents in stock at social rents by area, accommodation and provider type (StatsWales)
[Note 1] Includes self-contained general needs, sheltered, other supported and extra care housing. Excludes all non-self-contained social housing units, non self-contained bedsits and non-self-contained hostels. Excludes all non-social housing units.
[Note 2] Rents are set at 1 April 2023 for the 2023-24 financial year.
Whilst the difference between RSL and local authority average weekly rents for all self-contained social housing is £2.26 per week, for self-contained general needs housing units the difference between average rents is just £0.55 per week.
The mix of housing types differs between the local authorities and RSLs and this may impact on the average weekly rent levels for all self-contained social housing. The average weekly rents for local authority self-contained sheltered and ‘other supported’ housing are generally lower than for RSL units of the same type, and in particular for self-contained other supported housing units (Figure 5).
Data is available on the StatsWales website. Social housing stock and rents (StatsWales)
Average social housing rents for 2023-24 varied considerably depending on the provider, housing type and local authority area.
The RSL weekly rents for all self-contained social housing units for 2023-24 were lowest in the valley authorities of Blaenau Gwent (£95.18 per week) and Merthyr Tydfil (£96.84 per week). Rents continued to be highest in Flintshire (£117.40 per week), Cardiff (£116.81 per week) and The Vale of Glamorgan (£116.25 per week).
For the 11 local authorities that still retain stock, the average local authority weekly rents for all self-contained social housing units for 2023-24 continued to be lowest in Pembrokeshire at £96.39 per week and highest in Cardiff at £118.56 per week.
The gap between local authority and RSL rent levels for all self-contained social housing units was greatest in Flintshire, with average RSL rents of £12.08 per week more than those charged by the local authority. For Cardiff and Swansea, the local authority average rent per week was greater than that for the RSLs with a difference of £1.75 and £0.62 respectively.
While RSL rents continued to be generally higher than local authority rents across all housing types there were some exceptions. The local authority general needs average rent for 2023-24 was higher than that for the RSLs in Cardiff (£3.22 per week) and Swansea (£0.27 per week). For sheltered housing the local authority rents were higher than the RSL rents in 4 local authorities: Denbighshire (£5.81 per week), Swansea (£1.92 per week), The Vale of Glamorgan (£1.01 per week) and the Isle of Anglesey (£0.14 per week).
Self-contained – extra care housing
The 2023-24 average weekly RSL rent charged for self-contained extra care housing across Wales is £161.17 which is up on the £150.44 charged in 2021-22, and substantially higher than the RSL average weekly rents for other types of the self-contained social housing units. Extra care rents varied considerably across the individual authorities, probably due to differences in the extra care schemes and in the levels of service and care provided. The highest RSL extra care rents for 2023-24 continued to be recorded in Merthyr Tydfil at £244.28 per week and the lowest continued to be recorded in Monmouthshire at £95.91 per week.
Self-contained – general needs housing
| £s per week | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwelling | 2022-23 LA | 2022-23 RSL (r) | 2023-24 LA | 2023-24 RSL |
| 1 bedroom: | ||||
| Houses and bungalows | 88.91 | 86.67 | 94.30 | 89.86 |
| Flats | 85.09 | 83.24 | 90.19 | 88.32 |
| 2 bedrooms: | ||||
| Houses and bungalows | 98.61 | 102.42 | 104.56 | 109.10 |
| Flats | 92.57 | 92.57 | 98.07 | 98.63 |
| 3 bedrooms: | ||||
| Houses and bungalows | 108.42 | 110.24 | 114.80 | 117.31 |
| Flats | 99.53 | 104.11 | 105.55 | 114.80 |
| 4 bedrooms: | ||||
| Houses and bungalows | 118.97 | 126.88 | 126.10 | 134.93 |
| Flats | 127.57 | 116.19 | 135.85 | 124.97 |
| 5 (or more) bedrooms: | ||||
| Houses and bungalows | 128.87 | 152.84 | 136.66 | 158.82 |
| Flats | - | - | - | - |
| All dwellings | 100.86 | 101.00 | 106.83 | 107.38 |
Description of Table 3: A table showing the average weekly rent for both local authority and registered social landlord housing units, broken down by the number of bedrooms, for 2022-23 and 2023-24. For 2023-24, the average weekly rent has increased for every number of bedrooms, with the registered social landlord units being consistently higher.
Source: Annual social landlord stock returns
[Note 1] This table includes self-contained general needs units only (including self-contained bedsits).
[Note 2] Rents for each financial year relate to the position at 1 April for the following financial year. For example, for 2023-24 rents are set at 1 April 2023.
[Note 3] Self-contained bedsits are included with one-bedroom flats.
'-' = not applicable.
Following the implementation of the Target Rent Bands in the previous Rent policy framework there has been an overall reduction in the difference between the average weekly rents (from £0.69 in 2014-15 to £0.55 in 2023-24), but in recent years the gap has begun to increase
The average rents set by RSLs at 1 April 2023 for all self-contained general needs housing during 2023-24 was £107.38 per week which was just £0.55 per week more than that charged by local authorities.
The gap between the lowest and highest amount of rent charged for the various housing units for 2023-24 continued to be greater for RSLs than for local authorities. Whilst rents for local authorities ranged from £90.19 per week for a 1 bedroom flat to £136.66 per week for a 5 (or more) bedroom house or bungalow, RSL rents ranged from £88.32 per week for a 1 bedroom flat to £158.82 per week for 5 (or more) bedroom house or bungalow.
Across different housing types, the largest price difference between the local authorities and RSLs was seen in houses and bungalows with 5 (or more) bedrooms. On average, RSL tenants were charged £22.16 per week more than local authority tenants for these types of housing. As there are a relatively small number of larger housing units, the average rents may be more susceptible to particularly high or low rents. The smallest price difference was seen in 2 bedroom flats where, on average, RSL tenants were charged £0.56 more per week.
As in previous years, local authorities also charged higher weekly rents than RSLs for large flats (4 bedrooms). For 2023-24, the local authority average rent for these types of flats were £10.88 per week higher than the RSL rents. There were however only 15 local authority 4 bedroom flats across Wales at 31 March 2023. Of these, 13 were located in Cardiff where rents are generally higher than in other local authorities, one was on the Isle of Anglesey and one was located in Flintshire.
Glossary
Bedsits
Bedsits are a combination of a bedroom and sitting room.
Bedspaces
See ‘Hostel bedspaces’.
Dwelling
As defined in the 2021 Census, a dwelling is a unit of accommodation that may be empty or being lived in, for example houses or flats. They are usually made up of one household, but those with more than one household are shared and called a “shared dwelling”.
If a dwelling has no usual residents living in them, for example they are empty after being sold, these are called “unoccupied dwellings” but may be used by short-term residents or visitors on Census Day, 21 March 2021, for example holiday homes.
Extra care
‘Extra care sheltered housing’ or ‘assisted living housing’ offer a higher level of care than ‘sheltered housing’. The services offered vary between schemes, but meals, help with domestic tasks and some personal care are often provided. ‘Close care housing’ is usually located in the grounds of a care home, with staff from the home providing extra care and assistance. Rent levels will vary depending on the level of care provided.
Flexible tenure for the elderly
Includes specific housing schemes developed in the 1990s to provide flexible tenure options for older people in housing schemes designed specifically for their needs.
General needs
Self-contained units that are not reserved for specific client groups. Housing units that are adapted for use for people with disabilities are included where no additional services or support are provided as part of the terms of occupancy.
HomeBuy
Stock where a social landlord has provided a loan to a previous tenant to purchase the housing unit outright. Although the social landlord has no equity stake in the stock, finance has been provided and remains outstanding.
Hostel bedspaces
These are individual spaces or beds within a hostel.
Hostels
A hostel is a building that:
- provides domestic accommodation which is not in separate and self-contained premises, and
- provides board or facilities for preparing food adequate to the needs of those people, or both board and facilities, and is
- managed or owned by a social landlord, or
- funded wholly or in part by a government department or agency or local authority and operated other than on a commercial basis, or
- managed by a voluntary organisation or charity and provides care, support or supervision with a view to helping the residents become rehabilitated or resettled within the community, and
- is not a care home, an independent hospital or an Abbeyfield Home.
The legal definition of a hostel is in regulation 2(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006.
Intermediate rented
These are housing units where the rents are above those of social rented housing but below market housing rents.
Rent First
Rent First is a subsidised intermediate rent solution providing people with a mid-market rental housing solution as well as potentially assisting them in the outright purchase of their home in the future. Rent First aims to help local authorities and housing associations meet their housing objectives. These include creating mixed income developments and communities which can access affordable properties to buy or rent.
Non-self-contained units
A non-self-contained unit is accommodation occupied by a household that lacks exclusive use of bath/shower or WC or some cooking facilities. These usually take the form of bedsit, shared housing, hostel or hostel type accommodation. Each bed space is therefore normally considered a non-self-contained unit.
Other investment housing
Any other housing not already included in housing let at market rents or HomeBuy. This should only include residential properties.
Other housing units
Other housing units should include any other type of housing which is not social rented or other social housing. This may include student accommodation owned and managed by social landlords.
Housing let at market rents
These are other housing units which are let at market rents.
Rents
The average weekly rent is the average of the standard rent chargeable, before deduction for rent allowances and also excludes service charges or other charges for amenities (e.g., central heating, hot water supply or laundries) and water rates.
Rents are based on a 52-week year. If rent free weeks are given the total amount payable is divided by 52. Housing units of unusual size are assigned to the closest available category. Maisonettes are categorised as flats.
Self-contained units
A self-contained unit is accommodation occupied by a household with exclusive use of bath/shower and inside WC and some cooking facilities.
Shared ownership
These are schemes which allow qualifying purchasers to buy a share of the housing unit with a proportional rent payable on the remaining share to the social landlord.
Sheltered housing
This includes sheltered housing units that are either:
- warden call alarm system with a Warden call alarm only; and
- warden call alarm system and resident scheme manager.
Supported housing
This covers self-contained supported housing stock for rent not covered by the definition of sheltered accommodation, where there is a restriction on who can be allocated the unit. The accommodation will have been specifically designated for a client group or groups to enable residents to adjust to independent living or to enable them to live independently.
Quality and methodology information
Detailed information on data quality and methodology can be found in the quality report.
Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)
The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.
Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Wellbeing of Wales report.
Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.
