Release note
Social homes across the UK, as each nation counts them
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each count the homes rented from councils and housing associations in their own way. Each nation’s latest count, and the years its own table goes back.
22 Oct 2026 · printed as each edition was released, never revised
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
- Live Table 104: dwelling stock by tenure, England (historical series)
- Reference: 31 March each year, to 31 March 2025Released: 21 May 2026
- Welsh Government
- Dwelling stock estimates by tenure and local authority area
- Reference: 31 March each year, 2001 to 2025Released: 4 June 2026
- Scottish Government
- Housing statistics: stock by tenure (table Stock by tenure)
- Reference: December 1993 to March 2024Released: 26 May 2026
- Department for Communities (Northern Ireland)
- Northern Ireland Housing Statistics 2025-26, Section 1 tables (Tables 1.2a and 1.3)
- Reference: Stock: 2025 · Household tenure: 2012-13 to 2024-25Released: 1 October 2026
Main points
- England had 1,572,661 homes rented from councils and 2,628,731 rented from housing associations at 31 March 2025, figures the government marks provisional.
- Wales had 241,300 social homes at 31 March 2025: 89,400 owned by councils and 151,900 by registered social landlords.
- Scotland had 325,477 homes rented from local authorities and 307,553 from housing associations in March 2024.
- Northern Ireland had 127,900 social rented homes out of 841,800 homes in 2025.
- No count for the UK as a whole is printed now. The government’s UK table by tenure (Live Table 101) is marked discontinued, so each nation is shown in its own words and nothing here is added up.
Each nation’s count
| Nation | Date | Councils | Housing associations | All social homes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 31 March 2025 | 1,572,661 | 2,628,731 | Not printed |
| Wales | 31 March 2025 | 89,400 | 151,900 | 241,300 |
| Scotland | March 2024 | 325,477 | 307,553 | Not printed |
| Northern Ireland | 2025 | Not printed | Not printed | 127,900 |
Where a cell says “Not printed”, that nation’s table does not give the figure, and we have not worked it out. Northern Ireland’s note on its total: “The Total Social Housing Stock is a combined total of Northern Ireland Housing Executive housing stock and Northern Ireland Housing Association housing stock.”
The longer run
Each nation’s own table goes back a different distance, and each is drawn on its own scale. England’s table counts 3,382,000 homes rented from councils at 1 April 1961 and 300,000 rented from housing associations at 31 December 1977. Scotland’s counts 755,000 from local authorities in December 1993. Wales’s counts 187,900 council homes at 31 March 2001. Northern Ireland prints no count of homes over time in this edition, so its chart is the share of households renting from each landlord, from its household survey.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Live Table 104: dwelling stock by tenure, England (historical series) · as published
Source: Welsh Government, Dwelling stock estimates by tenure and local authority area · as published · official statistics in development
Source: Scottish Government, Housing statistics: stock by tenure (table Stock by tenure) · as published
Source: Department for Communities (Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland Housing Statistics 2025-26, Section 1 tables (Tables 1.2a and 1.3) · as published
What this doesn't tell you
- The four nations do not count the same thing in the same way or on the same date, so their figures are set side by side and not added together or ranked.
- Some homes moved from councils to housing associations without a home being built or lost, so a fall in one line and a rise in the other are not, on their own, a change in the number of social homes.
- England’s table changes the date it counts on over the years (1 April, then 31 December, then 31 March), and Scotland’s figures before March 2001 are dated December and rounded to the nearest thousand. The lines are drawn as printed.
- The Welsh Government and Northern Ireland round their figures to the nearest hundred.
- Northern Ireland’s chart is a share of households from a survey, not a count of homes, and is not set beside the others.
- This note prints the editions named at the top. A later edition may revise a figure; that would be a new note, not an edit to this one.
How we worked this out
Every figure on this page is one a government printed, read from the file named below and checked against the place it sits in that file. We have not calculated any figure, added any two together or worked out any change.
Sources
| Source | Reference | Released | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Live Table 104: dwelling stock by tenure, England (historical series) Homes rented from local authorities and from private registered providers, every year the table prints; read from LiveTable104.ods (sha256 ecd02eb8e520…) on 2026-10-22 | 31 March each year, to 31 March 2025 | 21 May 2026 | Dataset Data file |
Welsh Government Dwelling stock estimates by tenure and local authority area Local Authority, Registered Social Landlord and Total social Housing for Wales, 31 March 2001 to 31 March 2025; read from download.csv (sha256 e510c9a85c40…) on 2026-10-22 Accreditation suspended. “The APS has seen a fall in sample sizes over recent years and the statistical uncertainty for estimates has increased. Therefore, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has agreed it’s official statistics accreditation should be temporarily suspended and the 2025 edition of the dataset is official statistics in development; the method is subject to change as quality issues in survey sources are addressed and depending on user feedback” — Welsh Government. Read the statement. | 31 March each year, 2001 to 2025 | 4 June 2026 | Dataset Data file |
Scottish Government Housing statistics: stock by tenure (table Stock by tenure) Dwellings rented from local authorities and from housing associations, Scotland, December 1993 to March 2024; read from 2024-25+-+Stock+by+tenure.xlsx (sha256 f258dc8b690a…) on 2026-10-22 | December 1993 to March 2024 | 26 May 2026 | Dataset Data file |
Department for Communities (Northern Ireland) Northern Ireland Housing Statistics 2025-26, Section 1 tables (Tables 1.2a and 1.3) Social rented and total housing stock for Northern Ireland, 2025 (Table 1.2a); households renting from the council and from housing associations, 2012-13 to 2024-25 (Table 1.3); read from ni-housing-stats-25-26-tables1.ods (sha256 8709fa04decf…) on 2026-10-22 | Stock: 2025 · Household tenure: 2012-13 to 2024-25 | 1 October 2026 | Dataset Data file |