Total value of UK housing stock stands at record £7.39 trillion

The total value of the UK’s housing stock has increased by £2.74 trillion over the past decade, according to analysis.

Property agents Savills, which made the findings, said London and the South of England accounted for nearly three-quarters (73%), or £2 trillion, of the gains.

Across the UK, the combined value of the UK’s housing stock in 2019 was calculated to be a record high of £7.39 trillion after increasing by £101.8 billion over the previous year.

Home owners without a mortgage now account for £2.63 trillion in housing value, or 36% of the total.

The number has grown as older home owners clear their mortgage debt, Savills said.

Lawrence Bowles, senior research analyst at Savills, said: “Established homeowners have been the 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% over the last 10 years.

“This leaves an unprecedented 46% of home owner wealth in the hands of the over-65s.”

Savills also found some changing trends in what is behind the growing value of the UK’s housing stock.

New-build homes are accounting for a growing chunk of the increase in the value of the stock.

This is because house price growth has weakened in recent years while house building levels have increased.

Over the past decade, existing homes have accounted for 87% of the value uplift in the UK’s housing stock.

But, more recently, as housing development has accelerated and house price inflation has slowed, the balance has shifted – with new homes accounting for 40% of the value uplift in 2019.

There has also been a shift towards the North in terms of the parts of the country driving growth.

While London and the South of England accounted for 73% of the housing stock value gains over the past decade, in 2019 90% of the total housing value gains came from outside London and the South.

The Midlands and North of England accounted for nearly two-thirds (64%) of the value uplift, with a further 26% from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.

Mr Bowles continued: “London and the South account for almost two-thirds (63%) of the nation’s housing value.

“But the rest of the country is catching up. The North and Midlands accounted for the majority of growth in the value of housing stock last year, thanks to faster house price growth and more development.”

Here are the total values of housing stock across the UK in 2019 and the one-year gain followed by the gain over the past decade, according to Savills Research:
– London, £1.774 trillion, £5 billion, £862 billion
– South East, £1.382 trillion, minus £5 billion, £555 billion
– East, £813 billion, £3 billion, £346 billion
– South West, £679 billion, £8 billion, £236 billion
– North West, £553 billion, £23 billion, £145 billion
– West Midlands, £482 billion, £14 billion, £154 billion
– Scotland, £412 billion, £12 billion, £110 billion
– East Midlands, £401 billion, £12 billion, £142 billion
– Yorkshire & the Humber, £395 billion, £13 billion, £99 billion
– Wales, £236 billion, £9 billion, £61 billion
– North East, £156 billion, £3 billion, £23 billion
– Northern Ireland, £106 billion, £6 billion, £11 billion
– UK, £7.388 trillion, £102 billion, £2.743 trillion