ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the features of the people and dwellings in the owner-occupied sector. The expansion of owner-occupation has been the single most important change - at least in quantitative terms - in the British housing system during the twentieth century. However, it is particularly important not to take this treatment of owner-occupation too far. Indeed in many respects the contrasts within the sector, in terms of both household and dwelling characteristics, are greater than those between the owner-occupied and other tenures. The class and income distribution of the resident population, both in the past and today, precluded home-ownership as a realistic tenure choice. The political control of the local authority has emphasised council housebuilding since the First World War. One exception to the relationship between dwelling characteristics and tenure is the age of buildings. Despite the massive growth of home-ownership since the war, home-owners are more likely to live in older dwellings than other households.
