Local area with most homes owned outright revealed

North Norfolk has retained its status as the local area in England with the highest percentage of properties owned outright by their occupants, figures show.

Nearly half of all types of accommodation in the thin strip of East Anglian coastline are owned in full, meaning the residents have no outstanding mortgage repayments or money owed.

The area includes the seaside towns of Cromer and Sheringham and has for several years been the local authority in England with the largest percentage of the population aged 65 and over.

The data has been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of its latest estimates of household tenure, which also include figures for accommodation that is rented or owned with a mortgage or loan.

Some 49.9% of properties in North Norfolk in 2024 were owned outright by their occupants, up slightly from 49.8% in 2023.

The next highest figures are for Rother in East Sussex (48.7%), Staffordshire Moorlands (48.3%), Derbyshire Dales (48.2%) and East Lindsey in Lincolnshire (47.4%).

Three of these five – North Norfolk, Rother and East Lindsey – are also the local authorities in England with the greatest proportion of people aged 65 and above.

The areas with the lowest percentage of properties owned outright are all in London: Tower Hamlets (8.4%), Hackney (10.1%), Southwark (11.0%), Islington (12.0%) and Lambeth (12.1%).

The rankings in both the top five and bottom five are unchanged from the previous year.

Areas with the highest proportion of homes owned outright by occupants tend to be in coastal regions or away from cities.

The pattern is different for other types of ownership, however.

The top five areas with the largest percentage of privately rented properties are all in the capital: City of London (51.6% of all accommodation), Westminster (47.7%), Kensington & Chelsea (42.6%), Newham (40.9%) and Tower Hamlets (40.9%).

The bottom five are outside cities and away from heavily built-up areas: North East Derbyshire (10.2%), South Staffordshire (10.5%), Rochford in Essex (10.5%), Bromsgrove in Worcestershire (10.5%) and Maldon in Essex (11.6%).

There were a total of 24.0 million households in England in 2024 living in 25.6 million dwellings, the ONS figures suggest.

This is up from 23.7 million households and 25.4 million dwellings in 2023.

A household covers people living alone in a property as well as a group of people living at the same address.