Rural housing in England is characterised by high owner occupation, a large stock of detached and older homes, and substantial variation in prices, rents, supply and heating fuels. The figures below cover rural and urban comparisons where available, with the relevant geography and measurement period stated for each statistic.
Contents
- Rural housing tenure and ownership
- House prices, rents and affordability
- Housing stock, age and dwelling types
- Housing supply and affordable homes
- Second homes and empty homes
- Warmth, overheating and heating fuels
Rural housing tenure and ownership
The English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025 shows a clear tenure difference between rural, suburban and urban areas. Around 81% of households in rural areas were owner occupiers in 2024-25. The comparable shares were 73% in suburban areas and 62% in urban areas of England. The survey’s figures describe households rather than individual properties.
Outright ownership made up around 52% of rural households in 2024-25, compared with 33% of urban households. Buying with a mortgage was more evenly distributed: the share was between 29% and 30% across urban, suburban and rural areas. Together, these figures indicate that the rural ownership gap is mainly associated with outright ownership rather than a substantially different share of mortgaged buyers.
Rural households were less likely to rent from either of the main rental sectors. Social renting accounted for 8% of rural households in 2024-25, compared with 14% in suburban areas and 17% in urban areas. Private renting accounted for 11% of rural households, compared with 13% in suburban areas and 20% in urban areas.
The tenure profile matters when interpreting other rural housing statistics. A price increase, mortgage burden or rental-cost measure does not affect all rural households in the same way because the balance between outright owners, mortgaged owners, social renters and private renters differs substantially by geography.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: housing and place - fact sheet (2024-25).
House prices, rents and affordability
Rural property values vary considerably by dwelling type. In majority rural authorities in June 2025, the average house price ranged from £156,500 for a flat or maisonette to £457,300 for a detached house. These are average prices by dwelling type, not a single average price for every rural home.
The wider market-value comparison also shows a rural premium relative to urban areas outside London. The 2024 mean market value of a rural dwelling was £376,000, compared with £284,000 for a dwelling in an urban area outside London. The mean market value in London was £599,000. The Market Value Survey reports these as 2024 mean market values, so they should not be read as June 2025 transaction prices.
Private rents show a similarly wide regional range. In majority rural and intermediate rural authorities in June 2025, the average one-bedroom private rent was £435 per calendar month in the North East and £905 per calendar month in the South East. Across those authorities, the average private rent for a property with four or more bedrooms was £1,560 per calendar month.
The English Housing Survey measured housing costs as a share of household income in 2024-25. Private renters in rural areas spent an average 30% of household income on rent, compared with 35% in urban areas and 26% in suburban areas. Social renters in rural homes spent an average 26% of household income on rent, compared with 28% for social renters in urban homes. For owners, mortgage costs took between 17% and 19% of household income across urban, suburban and rural areas.
| Measure | Rural | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Owner occupiers, 2024-25 | 81% of households | Suburban 73%; urban 62% |
| Private renters’ rent burden, 2024-25 | 30% of income | Suburban 26%; urban 35% |
| Mean dwelling market value, 2024 | £376,000 | Urban outside London £284,000; London £599,000 |
| One-bedroom private rent, June 2025 | £435 North East; £905 South East | Majority rural and intermediate rural authorities |
Sources: English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: housing and place - fact sheet, Market Value Survey: 2024 - main report, and Digest of Rural England: 2 – Housing.
Housing stock, age and dwelling types
The Digest of Rural England: 2 – Housing estimates that rural England had about 3.54 million houses in 2020, alongside about 0.25 million flats. The house stock included approximately 1.85 million detached properties, 0.99 million semi-detached properties, 0.36 million end-terrace properties and 0.35 million mid-terrace properties.
The dwelling-type figures show why rural housing is often discussed in terms of larger, lower-density homes. Detached properties represented the largest listed house category, while flats formed a much smaller part of the reported rural stock. The figures are counts of residential properties in rural England for 2020 and are not a forecast of later construction.
Rural homes are also older on average in the figures supplied. Pre-1919 homes made up 28% of rural residential properties in 2020, compared with 18% of urban residential properties. Homes built between 1919 and 1944 represented about 9% of rural residential properties, while those built between 1945 and 1964 represented about 14.5%. Homes built between 1981 and 1990 represented about 9%.
These age bands are useful context for repair, insulation and heating discussions, but they do not by themselves measure a home’s condition or energy efficiency. They describe when properties were built, not whether individual homes have since been renovated.
Source: Digest of Rural England: 2 – Housing (2020 stock estimates).
Housing supply and affordable homes
Majority rural authorities contained around 2.8 million homes in 2023. Their dwelling stock increased by 9% between 2016 and 2023. For comparison, urban authorities outside London contained more than 12.4 million homes in 2023, and their dwelling stock increased by about 6% over the same period.
New-build completions provide a more recent view of supply. Majority rural authorities completed 24,600 new dwellings in the year ending March 2024. Private enterprise completed 18,500 of these homes, while housing associations completed 6,100. Majority rural local authorities themselves completed fewer than 100 new dwellings in the same period. The categories describe the reported delivery routes and should not be treated as a complete explanation of local housing need.
Affordable-home delivery was 8,600 homes in majority rural authorities in the year ending March 2023, compared with 4,300 in 2015-16. On a household-adjusted basis, there were 3.3 affordable-housing additions per 1,000 households in majority rural authorities in 2022-23, compared with 2.0 per 1,000 in urban authorities outside London.
The supply figures also show pressure for council housing. There were 114,700 households on council-housing waiting lists in majority rural authorities in the year ending March 2023, while those authorities owned 51,400 council dwellings. Households on waiting lists represented 4.4% of households in majority rural authorities in that period. A waiting-list count is an administrative measure and is not the same as the number of homes required or the number of successful applications.
Delivery routes have changed unevenly. Affordable homes delivered on rural exception sites fell by nearly 50% between the year ending March 2016 and the year ending March 2023. In contrast, majority rural authorities delivered twice as many homes through Section 106 agreements in 2022-23 as in 2015-16.
Sources: Digest of Rural England: 2 – Housing and Digest of Rural England: 2 – Housing. The two Digest editions cover different measurement periods as stated above.
Second homes and empty homes
On 7 October 2024, 279,900 dwellings in England were classed as second homes. Majority rural authorities accounted for 67,000 of them. In 2024, second homes represented 2.5% of chargeable dwellings in majority rural authorities, compared with 0.8% of dwellings in urban authorities outside London.
The concentration was also visible at the lower end of the council-tax band scale. Majority rural authorities had 15,100 Band A properties classed as second homes in 2024, and second homes accounted for 3.2% of Band A properties in those authorities.
Empty homes formed a separate category in the 2024 figures. England had 502,300 dwellings classed as empty, of which 53,800 were in majority rural authorities. Empty dwellings represented 2.0% of dwellings in majority rural authorities and 2.1% in urban authorities outside London.
Second-home and empty-home statistics should not be combined. The classifications describe different statuses, and the supplied figures give separate totals and percentages for each. They also use majority rural authorities rather than every possible definition of a rural settlement.
Source: Digest of Rural England: 2 – Housing (2024 and 7 October 2024 measures).
Warmth, overheating and heating fuels
In 2024-25, about 93% of rural households said they could keep their home comfortably warm during cold winter weather, compared with 88% of urban households and about 92% of suburban households. This is a reported household experience measure, not a direct reading of indoor temperature or fuel consumption.
In the South West, 10% of rural households reported overheating in 2024-25, compared with 18% of suburban households. The warmth and overheating measures describe self-reported conditions and should be interpreted separately from the heating-fuel statistics below.
Fuel choice differs with remoteness and tenure. In majority rural authorities farther from a major town or city, 61.3% of owner-occupied properties used gas for central heating in 2023, compared with 71.2% in those nearer to a major town or city. Oil was used by 19.5% of owner-occupied properties in the more distant group, compared with 14.4% in the nearer group.
Among private-rented properties in majority rural authorities farther from a major town or city, 59.9% used gas for central heating in 2023 and 20.3% used electricity. In those nearer to a major town or city, the corresponding figures were 64.2% for gas and 17.5% for electricity.
Social-rented properties showed a similar gas-use contrast: 63.4% used gas for central heating in majority rural authorities farther from a major town or city, compared with 69.0% in those nearer to a major town or city.
| Property group in majority rural authorities | Farther from major town or city | Nearer to major town or city |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupied using gas, 2023 | 61.3% | 71.2% |
| Owner-occupied using oil, 2023 | 19.5% | 14.4% |
| Private-rented using gas, 2023 | 59.9% | 64.2% |
| Private-rented using electricity, 2023 | 20.3% | 17.5% |
| Social-rented using gas, 2023 | 63.4% | 69.0% |
Source: Digest of Rural England: 8 – Energy (2023 heating-fuel measures). The distance categories are those used in the source and are not a general ranking of all rural communities.