Close Menu
Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Home
    • Commodities
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Fintech
    • Investments
    • Precious Metal
    • Property
    • Stock Market
    Invest Intellect
    Home»Property»UK housing market debt falls as older generations pay off mortgages
    Property

    UK housing market debt falls as older generations pay off mortgages

    February 15, 20254 Mins Read


    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

    Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

    UK homeowners became much less indebted over the past decade as more of them paid off their mortgages and fewer first time buyers were able to take out new loans.

    The collective loan-to-value of the UK’s privately owned housing dropped from 23.5 per cent in 2014 to 19.4 per cent last year, according to research by property group Savills, which also showed the total value of homes in the UK topped £9tn for the first time.

    The lower levels of debt against the UK’s housing wealth reflects a long-term shift, with people who own their homes outright controlling a growing share of property and fewer first time buyers getting on the housing ladder.

    “The baby boomers have continued to build wealth having paid off their mortgage debt,” said Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills. “Millennials and Gen Z have had much less opportunity to work their way up the housing ladder profitably.”

    The high cost of housing and the need to save for a large deposit have fuelled concerns that a growing number of people are locked out of home ownership and unable to amass property wealth like previous generations.

    But the data also shows a shift within the ranks of homeowners, with outright owners, who tend to be older, controlling a larger share of the nation’s housing.

    Line chart of Thousands of households showing Mortgaged home ownership has fallen

    The value of homes owned outright has increased 66 per cent over the decade, compared with 55 per cent for homes owned with a mortgage, Savills reported.

    The bigger increase in the value of homes owned outright also reflects the number of people paying off their mortgage. In England, the number of outright owners grew faster than the overall number of homeowners during the decade, according to the official English Housing Survey.

    Across the UK, the number of owner-occupier mortgages fell from 9.5mn in 2014 to 8.7mn last year, according to UK Finance.

    Column chart of Owner-occupier mortgages showing The number of residential mortgages in the UK has fallen over a decade

    New buyers have been held back as homes have become increasingly unaffordable. The average home in England cost seven times average earnings in 2014, according to the ONS. Affordability worsened to nine times earnings in 2021, although it has since improved to 8.25 times in 2023.

    Sir Keir Starmer’s government is hoping to boost home ownership by increasing house building — and has also thrown its support behind proposals to re-examine mortgage regulation to make it easier for people to get loans.

    The regulations, largely drawn up after the 2008 financial crisis, limit how much banks can lend as a multiple of a person’s income or the value of a property and require stress tests to check if borrowers can cope with future interest rate rises.

    Cook said much of the shift in ownership was “down to demographics and the accessibility to home ownership of different generations. But it also reflects the role which mortgage regulation has played in restricting debt-driven price growth in the housing market”.

    Column chart of Annual change in value (£bn) showing UK housing value returned to growth in 2024

    The sharp rise in interest rates starting in 2022 put mortgages further out of reach for many households, and prompted a brief dip in house prices.

    Savills recorded a drop in the total value of UK homes in 2023 for the first time since it started tracking in 2012. But the £22bn hit was more than recovered with a £346bn gain last year.

    London and the South East continue to hold the greatest housing wealth, but have grown more slowly in recent years as already stretched prices limited further gains.

    Bar chart of Housing value £bn showing London and the South East hold much of the UK’s housing wealth

    Homes in two London boroughs — Westminster, and Kensington and Chelsea — were still worth more than all the properties in the North East in 2024.

    There were 341,068 first-time home purchases last year, according to Halifax, the lowest since 2017, excluding 2020 when the market was frozen by Covid lockdowns.

    Last year’s figure marked an improvement on 2023, when high interest rates pushed the number of first-time buyers to the lowest in a decade. The average first time buyer deposit was £61,090 in 2024, rising to £124,688 in London.



    Source link

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Making money from property “is for the birds” says top wealth manager

    Property

    Marseilia Real Estate Investment : Bénéfice net individuel de 11,3 millions EGP au premier trimestre

    Property

    Grade II-listed property dating from 1717 for sale in Bury

    Property

    UK’s most expensive seaside town with million-pound mansions and white sand beach

    Property

    Dorset high street property up for auction

    Property

    Met Office says UK could see third heatwave in the space of a month | News UK

    Property
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Top Picks
    Commodities

    Commodity Roundup: Oil sinks along with other risk assets, gold erases early gains

    Cryptocurrency

    LBank Exchange Will List Unifi (UNIFI) on July 15, 2024

    Commodities

    Licenciement: Vivo Energy condamnée à payer plus de 280 millions GNF à une ex employée

    Editors Picks

    Opinion | The Younger Wealthy’s Alternative Approach to Investments Doesn’t Extend to Taxation

    August 17, 2024

    Rignac. Pour une agriculture de cueillette

    April 24, 2025

    SM Investments bullish on PH growth trajectory

    March 18, 2025

    TIGTA Reports: Virtual Currency Tax Compliance Enforcement Can Be Improved | McGlinchey Stafford

    July 19, 2024
    What's Hot

    Gold Remains Rangebound, Silver is Weak; Technical and Sentiment Analysis

    August 6, 2024

    Who Is Directing The War On Agriculture And Nutrition? – OpEd – Eurasia Review

    August 14, 2024

    Digital currencies can boost inclusion in Middle East and Asia

    August 10, 2024
    Our Picks

    The commodities buccaneers boosting your dividends

    March 17, 2025

    A viable investment? – PrestigeOnline Malaysia

    August 19, 2024

    Bitcoin Reclaims $100,000 Psychological Mark, Up 37% In 1 Month, Why Is Cryptocurrency Rising?

    May 8, 2025
    Weekly Top

    MouNa Group Technology remet un important lot d’ordinateurs aux étudiants des CPGE dans le cadre du Programme Simandou Academy

    July 6, 2025

    Zelensky introduced special anti-Russian sanctions for cryptocurrency payments — EADaily, July 6th, 2025 — Politics, Russia

    July 6, 2025

    Ontario funds two miners aiming to boost critical mineral recoveries

    July 6, 2025
    Editor's Pick

    Gold Price Forecast: Precious Metal Poised for Further Gains

    March 27, 2025

    Ukrainian farmers are diversifying their agricultural practices, specifically focussing on melons

    July 18, 2024

    Deutsche Bank Charts Course Toward Digital Currency Integration

    June 6, 2025
    © 2025 Invest Intellect
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.