Census 2022

Accommodation and tenure

Type of accommodation

55.96% of Edinburgh population live in flats or apartments. 

Of these flats or apartments: 

• 94% are purpose built
• 5% are shared houses
• 0.6% are in commercial building. 

44.00% of Edinburgh population live in whole houses or bungalows. 

Of these whole houses or bungalows: 

• 32% are detached
• 35% are semi-detached
• 33% are terraced. 

0.04% live in caravans or other temporary structure. 

In Edinburgh, 56% of residents live in flats, compared to 28% in Scotland. 

Tenure in Edinburgh

• 60% of households in Edinburgh are owner-occupied: 144,000 of 239,000 occupied households. In 2011, 133,000 were owner-occupied
• 23% of households in Edinburgh are privately rented: 55,000 of 239,000 occupied households. In 2011, 50,000 were owner-occupied
• 16% of households in Edinburgh are socially rented: 38,000 of 239,000 occupied households. In 2011, 38,000 were owner-occupied
• 1% live rent free.

50% of the owner-occupied households have a mortgage or loan (47%), shared equity or shared ownership.

Tenure by ward

• the ward where the highest proportion of households are owner-occupied in 2022 is Corstorphine/ Murrayfield with 83%
• the ward with a higher number of rented households in 2022 is City Centre (57%).

Bedrooms and occupancy

Households in Edinburgh by number of bedrooms

41% of households have two bedrooms and nearly 4% of households have more than five bedrooms:

• 97,000 households have two bedrooms
• 61,000 households have three bedrooms
• 46,000 households have one bedroom
• 26,000 households have four bedrooms
• 9,000 households have five or more bedrooms.

The numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand.

Occupancy rating

• in 2022, 3% of households were overcrowded, having one or more fewer bedrooms than required by the household. In 2011, 13% were overcrowded
• in 2022, 35% of households had the exact number of bedrooms required by the household. In 2011, 28% had the exact number of bedrooms
• in 2022, 38% of households were under-occupied by one, having one more bedroom than required by the household. In 2011, 28% were under-occupied by one
• in 2022, 24% of households were under-occupied by two or more, having two or more bedrooms than required by the household. In 2011, 31% were under-occupied by two or more.

The number of households with less rooms than required has decreased by 10% since 2011 and sits at just 3%. 70% of households in Scotland and 62% of households in Edinburgh have more bedrooms than required by the household. 

Central heating and cars by household

Central heating in Edinburgh 

• Gas central heating:
  • 2022: 190,000
  • 2011: 180,000
• Electric heating:
  • 2022: 24,000
  • 2011: 27,000
• Other heating:
  • 2022: 16,000
  • 2011: 6,000
• No central heating:
  • 2022: 8,000
  • 2011: 10,000

Percentage of households without central heating

The number of households without central heating has decreased by 1% since 2011, but it’s still over 1% higher than the percentage in Scotland. 

• 4.3% of Edinburgh households did not have central heating in 2011
• 3.3% of Edinburgh households did not have central heating in 2022
• 2.1% of Scotland households with no central heating in 2022.

Car ownership in households

Number of cars by household in Edinburgh and in Scotland

• 44% of households have one car or van in Edinburgh (43% in Scotland)
• 15% of households have two cars or vans in Edinburgh (24% in Scotland)
• 2% of households have three cars or vans in Edinburgh (5% in Scotland)
• 0.7% of households have four or more cars or vans in Edinburgh (2% in Scotland)
• 38% of households do not have any car or van (26% in Scotland).

Change in car ownership by households from 2011

There are 149k households that have at least one car, 15k more than in 2011: 

• the number of households with one car or van has increased by 10,300 (this represents a percent increase of 1.5%)
• the number of households with two or more cars or vans has increased by 4,600 (this represents a percent increase of 0.8%)
• the number of households without any car or van has increased by 1,000 (this represents a percent decrease of 2.2%).