Valuing Britain
Valuing Britain exercise for 2015 reveals some staggering sums and a divided market. Six trillion, one hundred and sixty five billion, two hundred and two million, two hundred and five thousand, nine hundred and twenty eight pounds is a seriously big number. It is our best estimate of the total value of housing stock across the UK at the end of 2015 (accurate we hope to within the odd one hundred billion or so).
- Seventy-nine percent of this total is held as net housing wealth, with £1.32 trillion of mortgage debt set against it. These numbers reflect how housing has become both a source and store of wealth across the UK.
- However startling the sheer size of these sums, it is the way housing wealth is distributed that has become most scrutinised by society.
- Over £2 trillion of net housing wealth held is by owner occupiers who have paid off their mortgage. Owners of stock in the private rented sector hold broadly the same amount of equity as mortgaged owner occupiers, reflecting the respective rise and decline of each sector.
- The value of housing stock in the borough of Kensington & Chelsea alone is more than double the amount handed out in prize money by the National Lottery since its inception in 1994.
28 Feb 16