175,000 English households had a second home in England in 2002-03 (excluding those held solely as an investment) while 144 thousand had second homes outside Great Britain, according to the latest findings published in the Survey of English Housing.

The annual survey, which provides key data on all housing sectors, also found the most common reasons given for having a second home were "as a holiday home or retirement cottage" (51 per cent) or "working away from home" (19 per cent).

These are some of the findings gleaned from an annual survey of nearly 20,000 households carried out for the ODPM by the National Centre for Social Research and includes new questions on mortgage protection insurance, funding of major repairs and the availability of parking.

Some of the other key findings are:

• Number of households
  The number of households in England rose from 17.2 million households in 1981 to 20.9 million households in 2002-03. This increase, which exceeded the modest growth in population, reflects the tendency for the average household size to decline.
• Owners
  Home ownership, which had increased substantially during the 1980's, grew more slowly during the 1990's, from 68 per cent of all households in 1991 to 71 per cent (14.9 million) in 2002-03. Most of this growth was in households owned outright as mortgages taken out in earlier decades were paid off.
• Social rented sector tenants
  The number of households renting from councils fell from a peak of 5.1 million (30 per cent of all households) in 1981 to 2.6 million (12 per cent) in 2002-03. The number of households renting from a Registered Social Landlord increased from 0.4 million (2 per cent) in 1981 to 1.2 million (6 per cent) in 2002-03. Overall there was a decline in the size of the social rented sector.
• Private renters
  The proportion of privately renting households was 9 per cent (1.7 million) in 1988 and increased to 11 per cent (2.3 million) in 2002-03. Despite the popularity of buy-to-let mortgages in recent years, there has been relatively little increase in the overall number of private renters.
• Specially adapted accommodation
  In 2002-03, there were 1.4 million individuals with a medical condition or disability requiring specially adapted accommodation.
  Three-quarters of the above (74 per cent) lived in accommodation that was suitable for their needs. The percentage was even higher if they lived in sheltered accommodation (93 per cent) or if they were older (over 80 per cent of those aged 75 or more).
• Ethnicity
  Indian households were most likely to be owners (78 per cent), followed by White British (73 per cent) and Pakistani (70 per cent). Bangladeshi households were most likely to be social renters (63 per cent) and least likely to be private renters (8 per cent). Chinese households were most likely to be private renters (41 per cent).
• Housing the homeless
  Of the 1.1 million households who had been allocated housing in the social sector in the last three years, a quarter (26 per cent) had been accepted as homeless by the council before they were allocated their home. This percentage was highest among lone parents (41 per cent).
• Mortgage protection insurance
  Overall 58 per cent of households buying with a mortgage had sickness or accident insurance (either mortgage protection or another type of policy). Fifty-two per cent of households had critical illness insurance and 36 per cent had unemployment or redundancy insurance. The more recently a household had taken out their mortgage, the more likely they were to have these types of insurance.
• Waiting lists
  In 2002-03, 4 per cent of households contained someone who was on a local authority or Housing Association waiting list. Almost half (46 per cent) of applicants on a local authority list had been on the list for two years or more. This compares with 35 per cent of Housing Association applications.