Flat insurance company Deacon recently published an article with a variety of facts and figures about home ownership in the UK. It made for a fascinating read, so here’s a rundown of some of the most interesting facts you should know about UK home ownership.
Facts About UK Home Ownership Everyone Should Know
- There are over 900 powers of entry which allow state officials such as the emergency services to enter your home uninvited.
- Britain’s spend on average 24% of their gross adjusted disposable income on their homes.
- Property accounts for 385 of the growth in wealth in the UK between 2012 and 2016.
- 64% of UK households, that’s 14.8 million homes, are owner occupied, which is actually a decrease on the peak number of 71% back in 2003.
- 43% of people born in the 1970s own their own home, while only 33% of those born in the first half of the 1980s and 25% born in the late 1980s do.
- Homeowners over the age of 50 hold 75% of Britain’s housing wealth, valued at £2.8 trillion in equity. Meanwhile under 35s owner just 4% worth £15 billion.
- The average UK house price is £230,000, while it is £849,000 in London.
- Only 255 of households owned their own home in 1918, and it wasn’t until the 1970s when homeowners outnumbered renters.
- Orkney is the best place to live in the UK according to the Halifax Quality of Life index, and other great places to live include Richmond shire and Hambleton in North Yorkshire, as well as Eden in Cumbria and Rutland in the East Midlands.
- City of London house prices have increased 143% from an average of £348,000 to £849,000 from 2009 to 2019. Meanwhile in Wales, Northern Ireland, Northeast of England and Scotland the recovery form the 2008 crash hasn’t yet happened.
- In the 1930s the average living room measure 16.01m2, which had increased to 24.89m2 in the 1970s, but has regressed to under 20m2 in the 2010s.
- Britain’s oldest home is reported to be one in North Yorkshire dated at 1000’s of years old.
- Britain’s oldest continuously occupied home is Saltford Manor near Bath which has been occupied since its being built in 1150.
So UK home ownership is fascinating, when you consider its history, trends in housing prices, home ownership and also quality of living in different parts of the country.
Homes are an important part of the UK economy and also important to families, as houses are passed on as an inheritance, or multi-generational families share the same dwelling. Its no wonder that housing has become an investment staple, with investment into housing renovations and also buy to let properties forming the core of many real estate investor’s portfolios.
Whether you’re already on the housing ladder, or you’re due to consider moving from renting to buying, its worth considering where it is best to invest, as many areas of the country and a lot less expensive than others, and house prices are stagnant in some places while falling or rising in others.
