Housing

There are an estimated 95,300 households in Bexley in 2021

– with the most in Belvedere, followed by Crayford and Sidcup.

housing

Homeownership

In 2021 69% of households in the borough owned their home.

  • Blendon and Penhill ward have the highest amount of owner-occupied properties at 86.4%
  • the average house price in December 2022 was £416,000, which is lower than most of London. This has risen from £207,000 in December 2012
  • houses cost less in the north of the borough

Renting

In 2021 15% of households in the borough were renting privately.

  • the average monthly rent for a 2-bed home in Bexley is £1,225
  • Belvedere ward has the highest amount of privately rented properties at 26.5%
Rented from registered provider/social housing
  • in 2021 15% of households in the borough were renting from a Registered Provider
  • there are around 14,000 social housing units
  • the three largest Registered Providers are Peabody, Orbit and L&Q

Additional needs

There are 3,674 units of specialist housing for older people, including 1,186 units of residential care.

  • 5.4% of households are adapted or have been built for those with an illness or disability
  • overall, residents are satisfied with their accommodation, with 86% of respondents to the 2018 Household survey expressing that they were very satisfied or satisfied
  • residents can apply for a grant or loan to make their homes accessible - find out more

Housing in the future

We are committed to meet our draft London Plan housing target which is currently set at building 685 homes per year over a 10 year period from 2018/19 to 2028/29.

Opportunity areas identified in the London Plan as places that offer the potential for growth (jobs and new homes) are Bexley Riverside and Thamesmead and Abbey Wood.

  • the target is for 50% of housing planned to be affordable and 50% to be open market

Additional needs:

  • the target is for 90% of new homes built to meet the accessible and adaptable home's standard and for 10% to meet the wheelchair adapted properties standard
housing in the future

Homelessness and need

Based on the 2018 Household Survey, 13.9% of all households were in need.

Homelessness and need
  • private renting households were most likely to be in need
  • larger families with 3 or more children were most likely to be in need
  • the most common reason for households in need was due to overcrowding
  • the wards with the highest number of households in need were Thamesmead East (30% of households) and Slade Green & North End (20.3% of households)
  • the wards with the lowest number of households in need were Crook Log (7.7% of households) and Blendon & Penhill (8.1% of households)
  • there has been a 26.4% increase in households living in temporary accommodation in the past five years
  • in 2020/21, there were 900 homeless applications, which has decreased from 1,131 in 2019/20
  • in 2020/21, a total of 301 households were accepted as homeless (main housing duty) , which has decreased from 398 in 2019/20