Value of housing expands to all-time record of £4.2 trillion
THE TOTAL value of the UK’s housing stock rose to breach the pre-recession peak of £4.08 trillion in 2012, according to figures released yesterday.
UK houses were together worth £4.17 trillion in 2012, Lloyds Bank said, up from £4.07 trillion in 2011, and up from £3.69 trillion during the depths of the credit crunch and housing crash.
However, since the consumer price index has grown 18.5 per cent between January 2008 and December 2012, this boosted nominal value of housing is actually still around 14 per cent below its earlier peak.
And the long term gains have not been spread equally across the UK. London’s housing stock has gained £373bn in value over the past ten years – 83 per cent – ahead of any other region barring Scotland, where the housing stock’s value soared 115 per cent between 2002 and 2012.
A separate data release out yesterday, from Savills, showed that Westminster topped the table of London boroughs for housing wealth, with a cool £94.9bn.