Census 2021 and the change in number of rooms
Open-plan living has become a huge trend over recent times for both renovations and new build housing. Fewer walls create additional light and space and more sociable living.
- The recent 2021 census data has hinted at the massive impact this trend has had. The number of households with 4 or less rooms* has doubled from just over 7.6 million to over 15.3 million. Meanwhile, the number of households with 5 or more rooms* has decreased by 40% from over 15.7 million to just under 9.5 million.
- How we use space in our homes is becoming more imaginative, with newer trends such as ‘broken-plan’ living where dividers and low walls help to find a compromise between open-plan and traditional layouts.
- This modern way of living is very much still on trend and desirable. Google Analytics shows that search interest in the keyword ‘open plan’ grew 188% between 2011 and 2021.
- *Bathrooms and toilets are excluded from the census counts. Source: Dataloft, 2011 & 2021 Census, Google