Social Housing Stock, Lettings and Vacancies, 2008-09

The statistics on Registered Social Landlord stock in Wales include data as at 31 March 2009.

The key points from the latest release are:

• There were 232,653 social landlord dwellings, bedsits and bedspaces in Wales at 31 March 2009, which represents an increase of 3 per cent since the end of March 2008.
• By 31 March 2009, the majority of social housing stock (51 per cent) was managed by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs). This is unsurprising as RSL stock has increased by 27 per cent over the last year, mainly due to the large scale voluntary transfer of stock from local authorities to RSLs(1).
• At the 31st March 2009, 1.9 per cent of social housing stock was vacant. The proportion of vacant social housing stock has remained relatively stable over recent years, with stock owned by local authorities showing slightly higher vacancy levels than stock owned by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).
• During 2008-09 there were 21,243 new lettings(2) of social housing stock. The majority (57 per cent) of these were via the waiting list, with a further 20 per cent via priority lettings to homeless households.

(1) Further details on the stock transfers can be found in the ‘Quality Information’ section at the end of this release.
(2) New lettings include lettings to new tenants, re-lets, transfers and exchanges.

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 5055
E-mail: stats.housing@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

November 2010 (provisional - to be confirmed on the 'Due Out Soon' page)