Last updated: 1st October 2023

We have high demand and a limited supply of affordable housing in the district. This page aims to help with HomeChoice customer expectations by showing outcomes, number of bids, and typical wait time of properties.

 Average bid volume and typical wait times (Previous 12 months)

  • The tables below relate to both WDC and Housing Association properties allocated through HomeChoice over the last 12 months.
  • Properties that are either age-designated, 'Low Demand', 'Specialist Housing' or covered by the Council's Rural Lettings Policy are excluded from these tables.
  • 'Typical Wait Time' represents the range in which the middle 60% of successful applicants were housed. This time commences from the successful applicants' Relevant Date per the HomeChoice Allocations Policy. Typical wait times are only provided where there are 10 or more completions.

Please be advised that an individual applicants' wait time will be influenced by the frequency they bid for properties and the range of property types and landlords they bid for.

1 Bed Allocations (Average bids placed per property: 98)

Successful Applicant Band -> Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
Properties 34 83 45 0
Typical Wait Time 0-2 months 3-8 months 17-28 months  

2 Bed (House) Allocations (Average bids placed per property: 37)

Successful Applicant Band -> Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
Properties 1 43 106 19
Typical Wait Time   0-2 months 3-7 months 12-55 months

2 Bed (Flat and Maisonette) Allocations (Average bids placed per property: 8)

Successful Applicant Band -> Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
Properties 2 27 72 30
Typical Wait Time   0-2 months 2-5 months  3-9 months 

3 Bed (House) Allocations (Average bids placed per property: 33)

Successful Applicant Band -> Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
Properties 9 39 65 2
Typical Wait Time   1-3 months 3-15 months  

3 Bed (Flat and Maisonette) Allocations (Average bids placed per property: 7)

Successful Applicant Band -> Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
Properties 0 6 3 5
Typical Wait Time         

4 Bed Allocations (Average bids placed per property: 25)

Successful Applicant Band -> Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
Properties 4 14 7 0
Typical Wait Time   4-23 months    

Register composition

The following tables show the makeup of the HomeChoice register in terms of applicants banding and bedroom requirement.

Register composition: All households

  TOTAL Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
TOTAL 1749 7 200 701 839
1 Bed 1124 5 132 513 472
2 Bed 389 1 33 92 263
3 Bed 158 0 8 56 94
4+ Bed 78 1 27 40 10

Register composition: Households with dependant children

  TOTAL Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
TOTAL 495 2 49 160 284
1 Bed 0 0 0 0 0
2 Bed 274 1 15 69 189
3 Bed 145 0 7 53 85
4+ Bed 76 1 27 38 10

Preference band quotas and completions (Previous 12 months)

  • Properties that are either 'Low Demand', 'Specialist Housing' or covered by the Council's Rural Lettings Policy are excluded from these tables.

Properties advertised: (including repeat adverts) 

This table sets out which preference bands HomeChoice adverts have been assigned to since the inception of the 2021 HomeChoice Allocations Policy. The preference band quota set out in the Allocations Policy is 60% for Band 2 and 40% for Band 3.

Total Band 2 Band 3
1696 1019 (60.1%) 677 (39.9%)

Completions: (all properties) 

This table shows the bands of applicants who have completed on properties advertised through HomeChoice in the last 12 months.

Total Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
764  46 (6%) 263 (34%) 345 (45%) 110 (14%)

Please be aware that despite Band 2 (60%) receiving greater preference than Band 3 (40%) in the preference band quota, the considerably lower number of applicants in Band 2 can result in Band 2 preference properties being completed by applicants in Band 3. This can consequently result in the completion percentage for Band 2 being lower than that for Band 3.

Completions: (excluding age-designated) 

This table shows the bands of applicants who have completed on non-designated properties advertised through HomeChoice in the last 12 months.

Total Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
628 42 (6%) 216 (34%) 304 (48%) 66 (10)

Please be aware that despite Band 2 (60%) receiving greater preference than Band 3 (40%) in the preference band quota, the considerably lower number of applicants in Band 2 can result in Band 2 preference properties being completed by applicants in Band 3. This can consequently result in the completion percentage for Band 2 being lower than that for Band 3.