Historic high: UK housing market now worth £6 trillion

The value of the nation’s homes passed the £6 trillion mark for the first time in its history, the Halifax has revealed. It says house price inflation of 5% over the past year has pushed up the total market value of homes in the UK by nearly £400m so far this year, raising the total to £6 trillion. It’s not all due to house price rises, agents may be happy to note. Since 2007 the number of private dwellings available to be sold has increased by 1.9 million, Halifax says. Although this sounds punchy, it only represents a rise of 190,000 homes being added to the stock every year – far less than the 300,000-yearly run rate that the government recently said it wanted to achieve. Housing market London has led the charge for both additional homes and house price rises, reflecting the huge demand for homes to buy in the capital. The number of homes added to the stock in the capital over the past decade totals 250,000, Halifax says, while London homes on average have increased by 71% to an average of £579,761. “The value of housing stock has grown by close to £2 trillion in the past…

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