Census 2021- Open Plan Living

11th April 2023

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