Contents
- Home insulation statistics: wall insulation in English and Scottish homes
- Home insulation statistics: loft insulation depths in Scotland
- Home insulation statistics: English loft materials and regional differences
- Home insulation statistics: household and dwelling characteristics
- Home insulation statistics: households with low loft insulation
- Home insulation statistics: condensation and winter warmth
- Sources
Home insulation statistics: wall insulation in English and Scottish homes
In 2024, 54% of English dwellings had cavity or solid wall insulation. That national figure covers two wall types together; it does not mean that the same proportion of each type was insulated. The English Housing Survey also counted around 642,000 dwellings with internal wall insulation and 666,000 with external wall insulation. Each represented about 5% of English dwellings with insulated walls, so these are shares of the insulated-wall group, not of all English homes. English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: home insulation – fact sheet
The tenure pattern differed by wall-insulation method. Internal wall insulation was present in around 5% of owner-occupied and privately rented English dwellings, compared with 2% of social-rented dwellings. External wall insulation showed another pattern: 10% of social-rented dwellings had it, compared with 5% of privately rented and 3% of owner-occupied dwellings. These figures describe the prevalence of each type within each tenure; they do not measure insulation quality or energy savings.
Older homes stand out in the internal-insulation figures. In 2024, 46% of English dwellings built before 1919 had internal wall insulation. This is a specific age group and measure, rather than a rate for all older housing or for wall insulation generally.
Scotland’s 2022 survey separates wall types. Among Scottish dwellings with cavity walls, 69% were insulated. For dwellings with solid or other wall types, 16% had insulated walls. The solid-or-other category was comparatively small in the survey: the report notes 769 surveyed dwellings in that group. These Scottish figures should not be directly read as a trend against England’s 2024 combined wall-insulation estimate: the years, categories and reporting bases differ. Scottish House Condition Survey: 2022 Key Findings, Chapter 2: Energy Efficiency
Home insulation statistics: loft insulation depths in Scotland
Scottish loft insulation was widespread at the lower depth threshold in 2022, while fewer homes reached the deepest threshold reported. Among dwellings where loft insulation applied, 95% had insulation at least 100 mm thick. Two-thirds (66%) of dwellings with lofts had at least 200 mm, and 32% had at least 300 mm. The percentages use their stated thresholds, so the lower-threshold total naturally includes dwellings counted at deeper levels. Scottish House Condition Survey: 2022 Key Findings, Chapter 2: Energy Efficiency
There were differences by sector at 300 mm or more: 30% of private-sector dwellings and 43% of social-sector dwellings had loft insulation at that depth. At 100 mm or more, the reported rates were closer—95% in private housing lofts and 98% of social-sector dwellings with applicable lofts. At 200 mm or more, the sector figures were 63% for private housing and 76% for social-sector dwellings. These comparisons describe insulation depth, not the number of homes in either sector.
The long-run measure available here is the share with no loft insulation. In Scotland, it fell from 6% in 2003/04 to 1% in 2022. That change is evidence of a smaller uninsulated share over the period; it does not, by itself, identify what caused the decline.
Home insulation statistics: English loft materials and regional differences
Among English dwellings with loft insulation in 2024, mineral wool or fibreglass was by far the most common material: 94%, representing just under 18 million dwellings. Other reported materials were much less common. Rigid foam board was recorded in around 795,000 dwellings with lofts (4%); spray foam in 231,000 (1%); and high-performance quilt and vermiculite beads in 95,000 and 88,000 dwellings respectively (0.5% each). Percentages are rounded, so they may not sum to 100%. English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: home insulation – fact sheet
The material mix varied across tenure groups. Among English dwellings with loft insulation, mineral wool or fibreglass appeared in 99% of social-rented homes, 97% of private-rented homes and 92% of owner-occupied homes. The survey also reported vermiculite beads in 0.6% of owner-occupied dwellings (77,000 homes). Those denominators differ: the first comparison concerns homes with loft insulation, while the vermiculite estimate is stated for owner-occupied dwellings.
Some dwelling and regional contrasts were notable. Spray foam was most frequent in detached houses, at 2% or 108,000 dwellings. Mineral wool or fibreglass was present in 95% of English flats with loft insulation. Around 12% of London dwellings with lofts had rigid foam board, the highest regional prevalence reported for that material. High-performance quilt was most prevalent in the North East, at 2%; the report’s comparison figures were 0.7% in the East, 0.6% in the North West, 0.5% in the South West and 0.3% in the South East.
Home insulation statistics: household and dwelling characteristics
The English survey’s household comparisons show that mineral wool or fibreglass remained the dominant loft material across the groups reported. In 2024, it was present in 94% of homes with loft insulation where the household reference person (HRP) was aged 60 or over, and 93% where the HRP was under 60. Spray foam was more common among households with an older HRP: 2%, compared with 0.7% for those with an HRP under 60. Rigid foam board showed the reverse pattern, at 5% for households with an HRP under 60 and 3% for those with an older HRP. English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: home insulation – fact sheet
Other household breakdowns also show small differences in material prevalence. Mineral wool or fibreglass was found in 95% of homes of households in relative low income, compared with 93% for households not in relative low income. For households with a member who had a long-term illness or disability, the rate was 96%, compared with 92% for households without such a member. These are material-use comparisons among the relevant households, not measures of how deeply their lofts were insulated or of household energy costs.
Rigid foam board was recorded in around 5% of homes with lofts among households with dependent children and 4% among those without dependent children. The close rates are a reminder that the household characteristics reported here do not produce one uniform insulation profile; results depend on the particular material and subgroup being measured.
Home insulation statistics: households with low loft insulation
In 2024–25, more than 2.7 million English households lived in homes with less than 100 mm of loft insulation. Within this low-loft-insulation group, around 1.2 million households (43%) lived in properties with uninsulated solid walls, while a further 677,000 (25%) lived in homes with uninsulated cavity walls. The figures describe wall conditions among households already identified by low loft insulation; they are not percentages of all English households. English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: home insulation – fact sheet
The survey also describes who was living in these homes. Around 297,000 households with less than 100 mm of loft insulation had a youngest member under five. Approximately 444,000 were in relative low income, and just over 1 million contained someone with a long-term illness or disability. These are counts within the low-loft-insulation group, not estimates of the share of all households in each category.
For low-loft-insulation households in cavity-wall homes, the survey reported a tenure difference: 49% of local-authority renter households lived in homes with insulated cavity walls. This comparison is confined to the stated subgroup—households with less than 100 mm of loft insulation in cavity-wall homes—and should not be generalized to all local-authority renters.
Home insulation statistics: condensation and winter warmth
The English Housing Survey fact sheet reports around 823,000 English dwellings with serious condensation or mould in 2024. For the separate low-loft-insulation group, around 197,000 households in 2024–25 had serious condensation in one or more rooms. Among these households with both low loft insulation and serious condensation, 34,000 lived in homes with uninsulated cavity walls and 133,000 in homes with uninsulated solid walls. These overlapping conditions are reported together; the figures do not establish that insulation levels caused condensation or mould. English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: home insulation – fact sheet
Within homes that had both less than 100 mm of loft insulation and uninsulated cavity walls, 24% of social-renter households had condensation issues. The corresponding reported rates were 5% for private renters and 3% for owner-occupiers. This is a comparison within that specific housing subgroup, rather than a tenure-wide condensation rate.
The winter-warmth measure is based on households’ reported experience. In 2024–25, 484,000 English households living in homes with less than 100 mm of loft insulation reported feeling cold at home. The survey asked whether respondents could normally keep comfortably warm in their living room during winter. The count therefore captures reported difficulty keeping warm among households in low-insulation homes; it is not a direct temperature reading or an estimate of the effect of insulation alone.