UK property worth £5.8 trillion

Friday, 13, Jun 2008 09:14

Despite the recent slump in values, property in the UK is still worth a total of £5.8 trillion, according to new research.

However, it is depreciating fast, says property valuation website Zoopla.co.uk.

At the peak of the housing boom last September prices were some £300 billion higher, at £6.1 trillion. But with prices now in free fall, the total is plummeting.

Zoopla research finds property is losing its value at a rate of over £1 billion each day over the last 9 months.

Set against the current Office for National Statistics (ONS) population figure - of 60.6 million - Britain's property trillions represent a value of over £96,296 for every man, woman and child in the country.

England accounts for the lion's share of the British gross housing product, with a residential property value of £5.2 trillion (89.4 per cent).

The total value of all homes in Scotland stands at £401 billion (6.9 per cent), while properties in Wales are valued at just over half of this, accounting for 3.7 per cent of housing stock with a value of £219 billion.

"Despite the recent market downturn, it is clear that the British property market remains one of the most valuable in the world on a per capita basis," said Alex Chesterman, chief executive of Zoopla.co.uk.

"The past few months have been challenging but the long term trend is extremely positive."

Unsurprisingly, London is Britain's 'highest valued' city, with a total residential property value of £776 billion, accounting for 13.3 per cent of Britain's GHP.

Only four other cities can claim to account for over one per cent of the combined residential property value in Britain - Bristol (£76.2 billion), Glasgow (£75.2 billion), Birmingham (£67.9 billion) and Manchester (£64.2 billion).

Welsh cities were noticeably absent from the top of the league, with only Cardiff creeping in at 18th place with a value of £28.5 billion.

Chris O'Toole