Metric permalink
Social housing waiting lists (England)
Part of the Housing and Household Formation domain. Number of households on local authority waiting lists for social housing in England, indicating pent-up demand for affordable rented homes.
Latest data
Latest reading
31 Mar 2025
Change between the two latest observations (2024 to 31 Mar 2025), in stress score.
A higher reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Since the August 2026 release
What changed on this indicator between the two releases: method only.
Blended from two measured components: (2/3 weight) and trend (1/3 weight); where no trend can be computed the metric is scored on its level alone. Volatility is published as a diagnostic and does not enter the blend. Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 2/3 weight
Percentile: this metric is scored against its own history, where today sits between its best and worst recorded years.
Trend · 1/3 weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · diagnostic, not blended
53Measured from how much this indicator has swung period on period across its recorded history.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Local authority housing statistics, waiting lists
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- MHCLG
- Series ID
- LA housing register, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
Register inflation is a known limitation: local authorities apply different eligibility criteria and removal processes, causing list sizes to be incomparable across areas.
Notes
Verified official value from MHCLG (LA housing register, England), accessed 2026-06-13.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1.76 | |
| 2011 | 1.84 | |
| 2012 | 1.85 | |
| 2013 | 1.69 | |
| 2014 | 1.37 | |
| 2015 | 1.26 | |
| 2016 | 1.19 | |
| 2017 | 1.16 | |
| 2018 | 1.13 | |
| 2019 | 1.16 | |
| 2020 | 1.14 | |
| 2021 | 1.19 | |
| 2022 | 1.22 | |
| 2023 | 1.29 | |
| 2024 | 1.33 | |
| 2025 | 1.34 |