How long the average Brit stays in their home
Key Points
- The average UK household stays in the same home for around 14 years, broadly unchanged since 2010/11.
- Outright owners average nearly 24 years in the same property; private renters average around five.
- Around a third of outright owners have not moved for 30 years or more.
- Around a quarter of mortgaged owners have lived in their current home for two years or less.
The average UK household stays in the same home for around 14 years, according to English Housing Survey figures published alongside Nationwide’s July house price index.
That figure has held broadly stable since 2010/11, but it conceals a wide gap between tenures. Households owning their home outright have lived there for nearly 24 years on average, against around five years for households renting privately. Those buying with a mortgage sit between the two.
The outright ownership figure carries a heavy skew. Around a third of outright owners have stayed in the same property for 30 years or more, dragging the average upwards. At the other end of the scale, roughly half of private renters have lived in their current home for two years or less.
The data shows that the average length of residence among mortgaged owners has fallen slightly over the past decade. Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said more frequent moves account for part of that shift, though compositional changes in the population also play a role as more households age into outright ownership.
Around a quarter of mortgaged owners have been in their current home for two years or less, which Gardner linked to stronger first-time buyer activity in recent years.
Renters are in a completely different market
Private renters in the UK stay in the same home for around five years on average, the shortest span of any tenure type, according to the latest English Housing Survey.
The sector also drives more movement than any other. Households moving from one private rented home to another accounted for 640,000 moves in 2024/25, nearly twice the number moving within the owner-occupier sector, making it the single largest component of UK housing market activity.
Average length of residence in the private rented sector has crept up slightly over the past decade. Over the same period, the average for households buying with a mortgage has edged down.
