Housing Needs Assessment 2006 - Westminster City Council

11. Market housing11. Market housing11.1 IntroductionEmphasis on analysis of the whole market as part of a Housing Needs Assessment has been a themeof Government policy at least since the publication of PPG3 (2000).PPG3 (2000) para 13‘Assessments of housing need which underpin local housing strategies and local planpolicies are matters for local authorities to undertake in the light of their local circumstances.Local planning authorities should work jointly with housing departments to assess the rangeof needs for different types and sizes of housing across all tenures in their area’.This chapter considers some general issues surrounding supply and household characteristics withinprivate sector tenures in the City of Westminster.11.2 Owner-occupied sectorIt is useful for the Council to have information concerning supply and turnover of market housing inorder to inform planning control. In particular, councils will want to ensure that new developmentsmeet demand with regard to dwelling size and type.Data suggests that 43.7% of households in the City are owner-occupiers and that 55.9% of thesehave a mortgage. As was shown in Chapter 6, households in owner-occupied accommodationwithout a mortgage have lower average incomes than those with a mortgage, although it should beremembered that the former group contains many older people who are likely to be retired.The table below shows the size profile of the owner-occupied stock in the City of Westminster. Thedata suggests that over half of households have three or more bedrooms. Only 13.0% have onebedroom accommodation.Table 11.1 Size of dwellings (number of bedrooms) in theowner-occupied stockNumber of bedrooms Households % of households1 bedroom 6,405 13.0%2 bedrooms 13,936 28.4%3 bedrooms 20,714 42.2%4+ bedrooms 8,064 16.4%TOTAL 49,119 100.0%Source: City of Westminster Housing Needs Survey 2006PAGE 105