We are owned by Clarion Housing Group and allow social housing tenants from all over the UK to search for a mutual exchange. Offering national coverage, Clarion Housing itself provides homes for over 360,000 people, with a presence in more than 170 local authorities in England.
House Exchange is designed for - and driven by - the needs of landlords and residents.
Our story
House Exchange first started twenty years ago as a local mutual exchange database for residents in and around Norwich. It was conceived as a means of improving tenants’ access to mutual exchange using a web-based platform and was partly developed in frustration at the slow pace of delivery of a proposed national system.
Our platform was shown to some local authorities in Norfolk and their subsequent interest in and purchase of the system led to the birth of the partnership; they have remained partners with us to this day. The House Exchange partnership now accounts for over 300 landlords across the width and breadth of the UK.
In 2011, we worked closely with the government and other mobility providers to launch the HomeSwap Direct initiative. We remain a signatory as one of the four founding partners.
House Exchange operates on a similar technical principle to matchmaking and dating websites in that it facilitates introductions between tenants looking to swap their homes. Their current home is listed along with the type of property that they are looking for which means that House Exchange can locate matches for them in real time; the platform checks the criteria relating to each advert including geographic location.
Working closely with partnered landlords means that we can offer greater mobility for all residents and together we can provide stability and strength within our industry.
Continue reading our story on the following pages:
