Rise of 6% sees NI housing stock reach a value of £100.7bn in 2018
THE total value of Northern Ireland’s housing stock reached £100.7bn in 2018, analysis has found.
Although it represents only a tiny fraction of the UK total, last year saw the local housing stock rise in value by 6%.
That represents an increase of £5.7bn, real estate adviser Savills found.
The total value of the UK’s housing stock reached a record £7.29 trillion in 2018, the analysis found.
Despite a slowdown in the housing market amid Brexit concerns, the total value of UK hous- ing stock increased by £190bn. The gains came from outside London, as the total value of its residential housing stock recorded a £26.2bn fall, the first decrease since 2009.
London’s housing stock is still worth £1.77 trillion — more than four times the combined value of homes in Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Bristol, Liverpool, and Sheffield.
The capital still accounts for nearly a quarter (24.3%) of UK housing value, compared with a fifth a decade ago, according to Savills.
Some £137.7bn of the increase in the value of housing stock last year was due to house prices going up, equating to a
£4,800 price increase per home. While 72% of the increase in the value of housing stock last year came from house price increases, the remaining 28% — or £52.6bn — was due to new homes being built.
Savills said this is the highest proportion contributed by new housing development since 2011 and reflects the Government focus on building more new homes.
Within the £7.29 trillion total, the collective value of the private rented sector topped £1.5 trillion for the first time.
Across the UK, in percentage terms, Wales was the region showing the biggest gains in the value of housing stock in 2018, with a 6.3% increase adding £13.4 billion.
The East Midlands (6.2%) and West Midlands (6.1%) followed closely behind, with Northern Ireland next.
In cash terms, the value of stock in the South East saw the biggest increase across the UK last year, with £29.9bn added on the back of growth of 2.2%.
“Our analysis demonstrates the scale of the housing market and underlines the importance of housing to the economies of London and the UK as a whole, both as an asset class and store of private wealth,” said Lawrence Bowles, residential research analyst at Savills.
“As affordability becomes more stretched, younger households are having to put off buying their first home until later in life.”