Equity Release
Half of all households have property wealth of £152k or more
Households in London have the most equity in their homes, with half having property wealth of at least £260,000
Net property wealth for all private households in Great Britain increased by £399bn (11%) to £3,927bn between July 2010 to June 2012 and July 2012 to June 2014.
This is according to the Weath and Assets study published by the Office for National Statistics, which offers an insight into property wealth across the country.
During the period of July 2012 to June 2014, half of all households who owned property had net property wealth of £152,500 or more.
Unsurprisingly, households in London hold the greatest level of equity in their properties, where half of all households who owned property had net property wealth of £260,000 or more during the same period.
Homeownership steady
However, the proportion of households who owned their home outright increased slightly across the survey periods (rising from 30% during July 2006 to June 2008 to 33% in the period July 2012 to June 2014). This increase is offset by the changes seen for households who own with a mortgage, as this has dropped from 38% to 34% over the survey periods.
The study also revealed that half of households with a mortgage on their main residence owed £83,000 or more during July 2012 to June 2014.
Just over one-third (34%) of households did not own their main residence, a proportion that is fairly consistent across all periods of the survey.
Finally, just over 1 in 10 households (11%) owned other property. Most of these were buy-to-let properties (4%) and second homes (3%).
Mark Posniak, managing director of Dragonfly Property Finance, said: “This eye-opening report underlines how central property wealth is to the average UK household. Between July 2012 and June 2014, Britain’s properties delivered growth of roughly £200bn a year.
“In 2014, Finland’s GDP was £184bn, which means Britain’s property market is effectively an economy in itself.
“UK homeowners have been able to sit back while their properties, collectively, generate more cash than entire countries. With recent price rises, it was inevitable that net property wealth would have increased but for it to have risen by £399bn over a two-year period puts it into a whole new perspective.
“It comes as no surprise that households in London have the highest net property wealth. Property prices in the capital may have come off the boil over the past year or so but before that they were rising exponentially. The average London homeowner is now considerably better off as a result.”
