The total value of Britain’s housing stock has passed the £6 trillion mark for the first time, after adding £385bn in 2015.
Real estate agent Savills also found that the total value of homes in London exceeded £1.5 trillion for the first time while Bristol saw the biggest increase in housing stock value, growing £4.5bn to $44bn.
Lucian Cook, Head of Residential Research at Savills, said the gains had been concentrated in equity rich markets, notably London and the South East.
He also pointed out that: “In 2015, for the first time, the total value of owner occupied homes without a mortgage exceeded the total value of those with a mortgage.
“While the difficulties faced in getting on and trading up the housing ladder and the consequential rise in private renting is well documented, these figures show the scale of the change and challenges faced by government.”
Across Great Britain, 17.8 billion households who do not own their homes outright share a total annual housing bill of £148bn, split roughly 50:50 between mortgage costs by owner occupiers and rent, both private and affordable.
London accounted for a quarter of this figure (£37.8bn), having increased by 46% over the past five years, with the average household paying £11,404 per year.
Rent accounts for almost two-thirds of this total.
The South East and East were the only other regions where the average annual cost per household exceeded £5,000 per household.
“Average housing costs in London are now twice the UK average,” added Lucian.
“This is a threat to its competitiveness and makes other major urban locations look increasingly attractive by comparison.”
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