Ever wonder how many people rent in the UK, how many people hold a mortgage and how many own their homes outright? We have the answers.

How Many UK Households Rent vs. Own?

NimbleFins analysed data from the 2025 English Housing Survey, and determined that just over one third of households rent their home (35%); another third owns their home outright (36%); and just under a third owns their home with a mortgage (29%) in the UK.

Insight: The biggest shift in 2025 appeared in the number of households owning their home outright - this category of households increased by 2.0% in 2025. In contrast, the number of renters increased 0.9% and the number holding a mortgage increased 0.1% in 2025.

By Age Group

Of course, the statistics change by age group. Households of young people aged 16 to 24 predominately rent privately - 69% in fact (down from 74% in 2022-23...). By the 25-to-34 year old age group, owning via a mortgage is the most common type of residency (43% of households). And by age 55, it's owning outright (46% of households).

Insight: In 2025, people started getting on the housing ladder at a younger age. In 2025, "owning via a mortgage" was the predominant living situation for the 25-to-34 year old age group, but the previous year, "owning via a mortgage" as the predominant living situation didn't occur until the 35-to-44 year old age group.

Number of Renters UK

Of the 8.79 million households renting in the UK, just over half rent privately (4.71 million). The other 4 million are social renters (local authority and housing association). On average, rental costs are around 2X higher for private renters than social renters.

Insight: In 2025, growth in private renting (+1.2% from 2024) outpaced growth in social renting (+.58%).

Number of Mortgages UK

There are over 16.2 million households in the UK owning their own home - 8.9 million of which own their home outright and 7.3 million of which hold a mortgage on their property. Those figures indicate that 55% of households owning a home own it outright and 45% via a mortgage.

These figures reflect the household residing in a property, not the owner. Therefore, a mortgaged property that is rented out to tenants would count under the rental figures (for the tenant residing in the property) not the mortgaged property figures (for the landlord who owns the property).