Despite these variations, the profile of household composition does not generally differ dramatically across the different tiers of the market.

More affluent markets tend to have slightly higher percentages of single person households and couples without children.

Given that these higher value areas tend to have a higher proportion of larger properties, in more affluent markets households are far more able to meet their requirements for space. This is reflected by the fact that they have with higher numbers of rooms per resident. But this can also point to greater inefficiencies in the occupation of housing in such areas, with higher levels of under-occupation.

By contrast, in the lower value markets there is a much greater tendency for households to be over-occupied.

In London the household composition trends are more pronounced. Households with dependent children account for 31% of households in the lowest value markets, compared to 18% in the highest value markets.

This means that in the highest value markets of London, single persons and couples without children account for 58% of all households.

However, across all tiers of the London market there is much greater pressure on space per resident with on average less than one bedroom per resident in each of the four lower tiers of the market.

Taken from
Spotlight: A Housing Market Divided