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Research conducted by Halifax suggests that the value of the entire UK property market has now surpassed £6tn, an increase of 30% over the past decade.

Prior to the financial crash, estimates by Halifax placed the total value of the UK’s housing stock at £4,077bn, which has since increased to £6,015bn. The data also highlighted that the majority of the UK’s property wealth is concentrated in London and the south-east – the two areas which have also seen the greatest growth in value. The value of all properties in London alone is currently greater than the combined worth of all properties in Wales, Scotland and north of England.

The areas that saw the largest gains in property values were mostly in the south of England.

In 2007, the total value of the housing stock in the north-east of England was estimated to be £114bn, and it has since increased by £22bn – far below the average increase across the UK of a third – up to £136bn.

Meanwhile, house prices in London have almost doubled over the same period. The total property value in the capital has risen by £620bn from £718bn a decade ago, to £1,338bn today.

The Halifax data also provides additional insights beyond the house price increases for particular regions of the UK. For instance, the greatest portion of housing wealth in the UK’s is owned by those aged 55 and over, as they possess 63.3% of it. Conversely, the under 35s own a 3.3% share of property wealth in the UK. The number of homes that are privately owned in Britain has also increased from 21.5m to 23.4m.

Speaking about the growth in the UK’s housing market, Russell Galley, the managing director at Halifax, said “The value of housing stock has grown by close to £2tn in the past decade, and with the equity rich regions of London and the south-east largely responsible, it highlights a considerable regional imbalance in the distribution of housing wealth. Within the capital there is also a mix of fortunes. While more than a fifth of total property wealth is in London, lower levels of owner-occupation reflect a major barrier to the property ladder with a far greater number of people renting where house prices are at their highest.”

The disparity between the changes in growth of the property markets in the north and south of England means that those in the south currently have much greater housing equity (that is, the difference between the value of remaining mortgage payments and the market value of the property). The estimates from Halifax put the average equity value for a London homeowner at £360,193, as opposed to just £134,273 for the average homeowner in the north-west of England.

Change in Housing Stock Values by Region

Region 2007 Value 2017 Value
UK £4,077bn £6015bn
Scotland £257bn £349bn
Wales £161bn £183bn
Northern Ireland £121bn £92bn
London £718bn £1,270bn
South-east £732bn £1,089bn
East £421bn £688bn
South-west £401bn £554bn
North-west £355bn £469bn
West Midlands £294bn £361bn
Yorkshire and the Humber £262bn £341bn
East Midlands £244bn £327bn
North-east £114bn £136bn

Source: Money Expert

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