Uk home owners hold £2tn in bricks and mortar
UK homeowners can take comfort from the fact previous house price rises have provided a buffer against the threat of price growth falls this year.
Latest research from GE Money Home Lending showed property price rises have added £1.96tn of wealth to homeowner's pockets - a total of £127,455 for each UK property.
"Whatever happens to the property market in the short term, we have had a prolonged period of rising prices which have - importantly - helped many homeowners to build equity and a reassuring cushion against any downturn," said Gerry Bell, head of mortgage marketing with GE.
The figures, based on industry data and research by GfK NOP, suggest that of the 62% of people who own their own homes in the UK, just 26% do so outright, equalling a resale value of £1.377tn. The other 36% of homeowners have a residential mortgage and on average own a third of the equity in their homes, worth £582bn.
In the regions, the south-east unsurprisingly accounts for the majority of the UK's housing wealth, with £377bn of equity held by homeowners, or 19% of the total housing stock in the UK.
Properties in the north-east are worth the least at £58bn, accounting for just 3% of the total value of housing stock in the UK, with Wales second from bottom at 4.5% and £88bn.
However, the figures also showed that in cheaper areas of the UK homeowners actually own a bigger slice of the equity in their properties. The north-west and Wales have the highest percentage of people who own their homes outright - 30% compared with 20% in London.
More Recent News
- Slight rise in volume sales for October BBC News 20 Nov. 2008 Property sales rose slightly in October, for the second month in a row, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said. Read more
- Mortgage lending rises by 7% Alex Coxall 20 Nov. 2008 Mortgage lending rose by almost 7% in October over September, suggests figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders today. Although this shows a move in a positive direction the figures are significantly down on the October of the previous year. Read more
- Buy-to-let trouble ahead BBC 19 Nov. 2008 Between 20% and 40% of buy-to-let (BTL) landlords will fall into negative equity if house prices keep on falling at their current rate, a report says. Read more
- RICS survey conclusions Alex Coxall 14 Nov. 2008 Transactions have slowed again during October but lead activity indicators and the headline price balance has improved, according to a survey carried out by RICS. Read more
- Nationwide predict fall into 2010 Alex Coxall 10 Nov. 2008 Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide is predicting that house prices will continue to fall possibly into 2010. Over all he predicts that the market will decline by 25% from its peak value to the lowest point. Read more
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