Net UK housing wealth ‘exceeded £7 trillion for the first time last year’

Net UK housing wealth exceeded £7 trillion for the first time last year, according to calculations from an estate agent.

The total value of UK homes reached £8.68 trillion at the end of 2022, Savills said.

With outstanding mortgage debt standing at £1.66 trillion, according to Bank of England records, Savills calculated that net housing wealth stood at more than £7 trillion.

Of this, nearly half – £3.34 trillion – was held by mortgage-free homeowners, the estate agent said.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: “The growth in house prices over the past three years has added considerably to the paper wealth of homeowners, driven in no small part by the well-documented ‘race for space’ over the period.”

But he added: “Recent interest rate rises are going to continue to put first-time buyer and second stepper budgets under pressure in 2023 and 2024.

“Combined with the prospect of lower levels of housebuilding, we expect that 2022 will represent a high watermark for the value of the nation’s housing stock for a few years.”

Savills used a combination of sources for its calculations, including census, English Housing Survey and Land Registry data as well as Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Nationwide Building Society house price figures.