County has second-highest amount of home owners
Hampshire proves itself a hotspot for buying in England
Hampshire has the second-highest home ownership rate out of every county in England, beating the likes of West Sussex, East Sussex, Berkshire, Kent and London. A recent study, commissioned by UK conveyancing solicitors Bird & Co, analysed current figures from the Office for National Statistics to find the number of homes owned – either outright or by a mortgage – versus homes rented in each local authority.
Each locality was then assigned a percentage home ownership rate and ranked from highest to lowest. This identified 58 local authorities within 25 counties that make a ‘top 10’ list for home ownership.
With home ownership being a continually contentious topic among UK citizens, seeing so many counties with such a high home ownership rate is a positive step.
With recent internal Bird & Co statistics showing that 71% of conveyancing clients were first-time buyers, this implies more and more people are making it on to the property ladder.
Local authorities with the highest proportion of home ownership across Hampshire that made it into the top 10: Fareham 79%, Hart 76%, New Forest 75%, East Hampshire 73%, Eastleigh 73%.
Hampshire had the secondhighest number of areas in the top 10 – with five local authorities – joined by Essex.
Both counties were beaten by Surrey, which had seven local authorities in the top 10 list.
Berkshire, Devon, Kent, Suffolk and the West Midlands ranked in last place, with just one local authority in the top 10 list each.
Not only did Hampshire have the highest number of local authorities in the top 10, the south east ranked third out of all the regions in England, with an average home ownership rate of 68.5%.
So what makes this region such a hub for home ownership?
The average house price in Hampshire is £378,807, in comparison to Surrey, which is has an average house price of £620,508.
If house price was a factor in the home ownership rate, we would expect these areas to have a lower price.
Hampshire’s house prices remain higher than the average of £274,712 in England, which suggests that house price is not the key factor when it comes to home ownership. Instead, perhaps it is the high percentage of Hampshire’s population within higher age brackets which explains this trend.
In fact, the average age range for 50+ year-olds in Hampshire exceeds the average across the UK, which may go some way to explaining the home ownership figures.
Generally, older people have more equity and therefore more ability to afford a house, possibly explaining Hampshire’s position in the rankings.
Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Hampshire is a hotspot for people looking to buy homes.
The area is clearly doing something right in terms of getting young people on to the property ladder, as well as keeping current homeowners in the area.