Housing Needs Assessment 2006 - Westminster City Council

Westminster – Housing Needs Assessment 2006Reason for movingTable 4.16 Reasons for needing/being likely to move home% of householdsWant to get on to the property ladder 20.3%Current home is too small 19.6%Want to move to a larger home 18.5%To move to cheaper accommodation 15.5%To live closer to employment or other essential facilities 9.1%To move to a better environment 8.6%End of tenancy agreement 6.4%Current home is unsuitable for a family 6.1%To have a garden 5.8%Threat of eviction/repossession 5.5%To move to a different neighbourhood 4.8%To live independently 3.2%Access problems (e.g. steps, stairs) 2.2%To have a car parking space 1.2%To be in a school catchment area 1.0%Current home is too big 0.9%To receive/give care or support 0.5%Current home is in poor condition 0.5%Want to move to a smaller home 0.5%Current home is difficult to maintain 0.4%To move to live with partner 0.3%Relationship breakdown 0.3%Being moved by the Local Authority 0.2%Current home lacks adequate facilities 0.1%You are the victim of harassment 0.1%Other 30.1%Source: City of Westminster Housing Needs Survey 2006Some distinct variations are apparent if this analysis is broken down by tenure. The most popularreasons for owner-occupiers (without mortgage) needing/being likely to move is wanting a garden,wanting a better environment or because their home is too big. Owner-occupiers with a mortgage,Council tenants and RSL tenants are most commonly motivated by the need for a larger home.Private rented households predominantly give other reasons, such as the end of studies, healthreasons and to move abroad/back to country of origin. Private rented households also commonlycite the desire to get on the property ladder and the need to move to cheaper accommodation.The survey moved on to look at where households would both like and expect to move to. Theresults of this analysis are shown in the table below. The table suggests that more households wouldlike to live in the City of Westminster than would expect to do so. No households would like to livein Hackney but 10.0% would expect to live there. However, differences between preferences andexpectations outside London are small.PAGE 48