Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Survey of English Housing (SEH) was a continuous annual survey series, which began in 1993. The survey provided key housing data on tenure, owner occupation and the social rented sector, and regular information about the private rented sector. The survey was originally sponsored by the Department of the Environment, which became the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions in time for the 1996-1997 survey, then the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, by 2000-2001. Responsibility for the SEH was transferred to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister after the fieldwork for the 2002-2003 survey commenced, and on 5 May 2006 the series became part of the remit of the newly-established Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

The main aims of the SEH were to provide regular information about the main features of people's housing and their views about their circumstances, and information about the private rented sector (not covered by routine administrative statistics like the owner-occupied and social rented sectors).

From 2008, the SEH merged with the English House Condition Survey (EHCS) to form the new English Housing Survey (EHS). The last SEH dataset is the 2007-2008 study. The EHS data are available at the UK Data Archive under GN 33422.

Further information about the SEH and the EHS may be found on the DCLG web site Survey of English Housing and English Housing Survey web pages.

Main Topics:

The SEH comprises a main core of factual questions that remain largely unchanged from year to year, and cover tenure, housing costs and difficulties with mortgage/rent payments, housing history, moving intentions, and the type of home desired. The survey also carries a set of attitudinal questions which are revised/rotated each year.