To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information he has on the proportion of retirement pensioners who own their own homes (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in those other European Community member states for which information is available.
I have been asked to reply.Comparative information for owner-occupation by age categories appears in table 10.24 of the Building Societies Association's "Housing In Britain", which is in the Library. More recent figures available for some countries are as follows:
| Percentage of owner-occupiers among households with a head aged 65 years or over | ||
| Country | 1984 | 1985 |
| Great Britain | 47 | 49 |
| Netherlands | — | 32 |
| West Germany | — | 40 |
| France | 56 | — |
Note:
The West German figure of 63 per cent. for this age category in 1982 appearing in the BSA publication should read 33 per cent.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information he has on the proportion of retirement pensioners (a) aged over 75 years and (b) aged 65 to 70 years who (i) own their own homes and (ii) have income from occupational or private pensions.
I have been asked to reply.
The available estimates are from the 1988 general household survey and the 1988 family expenditure survey and are as follows.
Age of head of household
| 1 Percentage who are owner occupiers
| 2 Percentage with income from occupational or private pension
|
| 65 to 69 | 56 | 66 |
| 70 to 74 | 53 | 57 |
| 75 or over | 48 | 49 |
1Source: 1988 General Household Survey (Great Britain). | ||
2Source: 1988 Family Expenditure Survey (United Kingdom). Includes covenants and annuities. | ||
The two surveys used as sources do not cover the institutional population, and so exclude people in nursing homes, rest homes or residents permanently in hospital.