UK housing stock valued at record £7.56 trillion

THE TOTAL value of the UK’s housing stock hit a record high of £7.56 trillion in 2020, analysis has found, with growth strong in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Some £380bn was added to the combined value of homes compared with 2019, Savills said.

Despite the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, it marked the strongest growth since 2015.

The value of housing in the North of England (the North West, North East, and Yorkshire and the Humber) recorded its strongest growth since 2005, with a £59bn gain taking the total value to £1.13 trillion in 2020.

The value of mortgaged owner-occupied homes passed £2.5 trillion for the first time, and a new five per cent deposit mortgage guarantee scheme announced in last week’s Budget will boost this figure further, Savills said.

A £170bn increase pushed the total value of mortgaged owner-occupier properties to £2.62 trillion in 2020.

The value of owner-occupied homes with no mortgage was higher still, at £2.88 trillion, with the total value of homes owned outright rising by 5.8 per cent in the year.

A fifth (20 per cent) of this value was concentrated in the South East. A further 17 per cent was in London.

Lawrence Bowles, a director in Savills residential research team, said: “People reassessed their housing needs and preferences as a result of the pandemic and that drove a surge in transaction activity in the second half of last year.

“This triggered rapid price growth as many buyers who felt secure in their finances looked for larger homes to accommodate the multiple demands of home working and home schooling, as well as extra space for living and leisure.

“It also meant that the total value of properties held with a mortgage rose by 6.9 per cent as people stretched their borrowing to accommodate lifestyle demands.”

The North of England, Midlands, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together accounted for a record £2.81 trillion in housing value in 2020, Savills said.

The value of property in Yorkshire and the Humber is £411bn, up £20bn on 2020.