UK Homeowner equity 1.3 trillion

Recent research has revealed that 62% of people own their own homes in the UK. Of these UK homeowners however only 26% own their home outright with the balance still paying for their home through mortages. The figures on UK homeownership show a resale value of these UK homes of £1.377tn.

To a degree UK homeowners will be cushioned against predicted coming house price falls because of previous house price rises.

Property price rises for UK homeoweners have added £1.96tn to homeowner's pockets which is the equivalent of £127,455 for each UK property.

The south-east has most of the UK housing wealth the majority of the UK's housing wealth - amounting to £377bn of homeowner equity.

The north-east shows the lowest value of housing stock at £58bn, which is barely 3% of the total UK figure.

These seemingly poor figures for the north east mask some hidden benefits for homeowners ion that part of the country however.In cheaper parts of the country homeowners own more equity in their properties. In the north-west and Wales for example there is the highest percentage of people owning homes outright - 30% compared with 20% in London.

The position for first time UK housebuyers is also in a state of flux.
In November, the average first-time buyer put down a 10% deposit and borrowed 3.33 times their household income.

House prices may flatten or fall this year and this could lead to negative equity for some first-timers. This is unlikely to be a major problem though and may be morethan compensated by the fact that first time buyers wil find it more affordable to get on the housing ladder. First time buyers are also likelt to be willing to ride out the period of a stagnant market and emerge unscathed when the market picks up.

The recent cut in the base rate from 5.5 to 5.25% is also welcome news and will slightly reduce the risk of a rapidly falling market developing this year.