Data Services

About the Regulatory and Statistical Return

The Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR) is a census of the HA sector administered annually by the Tenant Services Authority. As such it provides a rich and timely data source about the sector and its performance.

Because virtually all registered HAs complete a RSR, there is the potential to analyse data for the sector as a whole at national, regional and local authority level, as well as for individual HAs. HAs can also be grouped by type, i.e. you can look specifically data for LSVT HAs or BME HAs only if you wish. Some variables about HA stock and activity are available from 1989, enabling valuable time-series and trend analyses.

Dataspring can provide you with RSR data and provide specific analyses to meet your needs. The RSR includes information about:

  • HA owned stock by social/ non social housing by activity type, property type and size.
  • HA management activity undertaken on behalf of others.
  • Vacancy rates, duration and reasons for vacancies.
  • Supported housing by client groups.
  • Lettings.
  • Rents and service charges.
  • Shared ownership.
  • Acquisitions and developments.
  • Sales and Transfers.
  • Staff and Governing Body members.

You can also download standard analyses of RSR data from this website.

Importantly, the RSR provides a data source for average HA rents that are used extensively by Dataspring to produce analyses of HA housing costs, including affordability analysis and comparisons with costs in other tenures. Examples are an annual Sector Study on HA rent levels and increases and the Guide to Rents. Both of these analyses are published by the Tenant Services Authority and are available to download from this website.

Dataspring also undertakes an extensive analysis of the RSR dataset each year. This is published in a set of over one hundred standard tables that present these data for the sector, geographically and by HA size. Key variables are also for individual HAs. The findings of this analysis are included in a summary document. This is complemented by more detailed analysis of these data in Discussion Papers.