The overall property value of the UK housing stock has hit a record high of £7.29 trillion, reports Savills
Analysis by Savills has claimed that the overall property value of the UK housing stock hit a record high of £7.29 trillion.
The value is equivalent to four times the value of all the companies in the FTSE 100 index.
It said that despite growing by just 2.7 per cent in 2018 as Brexit fears slowed down the market, the total value of UK housing stock increased £190 billion to hit a record £7.29 trillion.
The gain has been put ahead on income tax collected by HMRC in the 12 months prior to November 2018, which totalled £187 billion.
The analysis has also shown that stock value has increased 46% over the last decade and that although the weight of housing value still remains in London and the South, there has been a shift northwards.
Growth has been seen in existing homes and new housing developments. For existing property, the growth has totalled a £2.39 trillion over the decade and accounted for 87% of the uplift in value. Whereas new housing developments have added just £0.35 trillion.
Senior Research Analyst at Savills, Lawrence Bowles, reported that established homeowners have been among the greatest beneficiaries of house price growth over the last decade, many of whom have paid down their borrowing. The value of unmortgaged owner occupied homes has risen 67 per cent over the last 10 years. This leaves an unprecedented 46 per cent of homeowner wealth in the hands of the over 65s.
In London and the South of England there has been a total gain of £2 trillion, and accounted for almost three-quarters of all the value gains in the past decade.
However, in 2019 the majority of housing value gains had come from outside London and the South, with the Midlands and North of England accounting for almost two-thirds of the uplift.
Just over a quarter of the uplift had come from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.
