Major Growth in Value of UK Housing Stock in Last 12 Months

Three major sources have revealed some interesting statistics regarding the value of the total amount of housing stock in the UK today. The Office of National Statistics, together with the Communities and Local Government and the Council of Mortgage Lenders, has revealed the total value of the stock is currently just over £5 trillion (£5.06 trillion to be exact). An increase of over 50% in just a decade In 2004 the total UK housing stock was valued at £3.22 trillion. This means the value during that decade has risen by 57%. However it is perhaps even more telling that just 12 months ago the total stock value was given as £4.43 trillion. This indicates the rise in this single year has been significant. In fact of the total amount added over the past 10 years, approximately one-third of that value has been seen in the last year alone. London has the highest value of privately-owned stock Halifax has also weighed in on this data, bringing forth a region-by-region breakdown of how much the housing stock in each area is worth. The highest-priced area is London, which currently has £1.14 trillion-worth of housing stock in total. The lowest region is Northern Ireland with £77 billion-worth of housing stock. UK mortgage debt has also risen Perhaps not surprisingly mortgage debt has also gone up significant during this period of time. As house prices have increased so has the amount of money people have to borrow in order to afford a house purchase. In 2004 the total amount of mortgage debt in the UK was £877 billion. In 2014 this has gone up considerably to £1.29 trillion. This represents a rise of 47% over that period of time. Equity in property rose during the same period The good news that comes from these statistics is that equity in privately-owned properties has also increased significantly over the last decade or more. According to research equity in 2002 stood at £2.34 trillion and today stands at £3.76 trillion. This represents a rise of 61%. Certainly, more and more people appear to be enjoying a higher level of equity in their properties. This does vary from region to region but it is estimated that more than 7 million households across England now own their properties outright with no more mortgage payments to be made. These figures do illustrate the overall trend for house prices to rise over time. This will undoubtedly have been keenly felt by those trying to get onto the housing ladder for the first time. While those who already have mortgages on their properties have likely seen the value in those properties rise significantly, those who have yet to get on the ladder will struggle to be accepted for the value of mortgage they need. With such a big rise in the overall value of the housing stock in the past 12 months alone, this will almost certainly create problems in the near future for anyone looking to buy.