The £6 Trillion Island
11th Jun 2008
New figures out today reveal that, despite the recent housing market slump, the total combined value of all residential properties in Great Britain currently stands at over £5.8 trillion (£5,835,563,534,903). This figure is down, however, by almost £300 billion (£288,419,620,195) since the housing market peak in September last year, when the combined value of all homes topped £6.1 trillion, equating to a value loss of over £1 billion per day over the last 9 months.
Zoopla.co.uk, the UK's leading property valuation website, which provides free, instant value estimates on any UK home, calculated Britain's Gross Housing Product (GHP) by aggregating the individual values of every residential property in the land. Set against current population figures*, Britain's property trillions represent a value of over £96,296 for every man, woman and child in Britain.
England accounts for the lion's share of the British GHP 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) whilst properties in Wales hold a value of £219 billion (3.7 per cent).
Worries about the sudden decline in property values in recent months have, however, somewhat overshadowed the significant gains of the past few years. The latest Zoopla.co.uk figures show that the British GHP has grown by over £750 billion (14.95%) over the past 3 years and by an even more impressive £1.7 trillion (42.16%) over a 5 year period, equating to a sustained daily increase of almost £1 billion since early 2003.
Unsurprisingly London is Britain's 'highest valued' city, with a total residential property value of £776 billion, accounting for 13.3% of Britain's GHP. Only four other cities can claim to account for over 1% 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).
Putting these figures into perspective, Britain's richest man, steel king Lakshmi Mittal (worth approximately £27.7 billion) could afford to choose between buying every property in Oxford (£24.7 billion) or Brighton (£23.8 billion) whilst retail stalwart Sir Philip Green (worth over £4.3 billion) would have to settle for either Dover (£4.3 billion) or Hastings (£4.29 billion).
Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Zoopla.co.uk commented:
"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, The past few months have been challenging but the long term trend is extremely positive. Zoopla.co.uk provides the ultimate resource for anyone interested in the property market by allowing free access to track current home values, sold prices and local trends."
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For further information, please contact PR Team on pr@zoopla.co.uk or +44 (0)20 3873 8770.
Notes to editor
Mid 2006 60.6m population figure from Office for National Statistics
| GHP 01/06/08 | % of GB | |
|---|---|---|
| England | £5,214,403,114,061 | 89.36% |
| Scotland | £401,521,208,713 | 6.88% |
| Wales | £219,639,212,129 | 3.76% |
| Great Britain | £5,835,563,534,903 | 100.00% |
Source Zoopla.co.uk, June 08
Regional statistics:
Britain's 'highest value' cities:
| Top 25 Cities | GHP 01/06/08 | % of GB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | £776,262,498,138 | 13.3% |
| 2 | Bristol | £76,227,534,765 | 1.31% |
| 3 | Glasgow | £75,159,352,476 | 1.30% |
| 4 | Birmingham | £67,958,496,160 | 1.16% |
| 5 | Manchester | £64,192,118,491 | 1.10% |
| 6 | Edinburgh | £58,032,963,416 | 0.99% |
| 7 | Nottingham | £52,737,019,072 | 0.90% |
| 8 | Leeds | £48,411,961,006 | 0.83% |
| 9 | Liverpool | £45,527,695,922 | 0.78% |
| 10 | Sheffield | £41,747,332,427 | 0.72% |
| 11 | Southampton | £40,174,879,738 | 0.69% |
| 12 | Reading | £39,338,496,136 | 0.67% |
| 13 | Leicester | £39,029,268,904 | 0.67% |
| 14 | Norwich | £34,595,396,107 | 0.59% |
| 15 | Cambridge | £30,370,544,200 | 0.52% |
| 16 | Newcastle | £29,212,411,289 | 0.50% |
| 17 | York | £29,027,020,471 | 0.50% |
| 18 | Cardiff | £28,520,041,709 | 0.49% |
| 19 | Oxford | £24,668,606,448 | 0.42% |
| 20 | Brighton | £23,836,247,621 | 0.41% |
| 21 | Coventry | £23,355,986,850 | 0.40% |
| 22 | Northampton | £23,171,851,043 | 0.40% |
| 23 | Derby | £22,511,143,597 | 0.39% |
| 24 | Stockport | £22,181,615,052 | 0.38% |
| 25 | Colchester | £21,716,472,492 | 0.37% |
Source: Zoopla.co.uk, June 08
What is Zoopla?
Zoopla is a revolutionary online publishing service and community website providing information and tools to give users an advantage in the UK residential property market. Our aim is to create a transparent marketplace and we believe that information should be free and easily accessible to everyone.
How did it start? In early 2007, following the success of bringing DVD rental to the internet with LOVEFiLM.com, Zoopla founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain realised that the internet had yet to deliver meaningful change to the UK property market. It became clear that consumers lacked essential tools and information to help them understand home values, view similar properties, learn about past transactions...
...and then we thought:
- Why not offer users a tool to get access to FREE, instant value estimates on their homes or anyone else's?
- Why not let buyers make offers on ANY home, instead of just the 4 per cent of homes currently on the market 'for sale'?
- Why not let owners find out if there is any market interest in their homes without having to list them 'for sale'?
- Why not let agents and sellers market their 'for sale' listings FREE by providing them with easy-to-use tools?
- Why not let anyone ask/answer questions and share their knowledge about any homes or neighbourhoods?
- Why not put current value estimates, sold prices, homes for sale and local information all together in one place?
So, we have started by providing FREE value estimates and sold prices on homes, allowing sellers and agents to list homes for sale FREE, and letting all users edit information and upload photos. We have also launched some unique features, like TemptMe™ and AskMe™, which allow users to gain an insight into the market and discover information they won't find anywhere else.
By making TemptMe™ offers, buyers can try to entice owners to consider selling. Owners also benefit from this unique feature by being able to see what level of interest there is on their home without actually having to list it for sale.
The AskMe™ community feature allows anyone to find out more about any home or neighbourhood that they are interested in by posting questions for those in the know to answer.
Zoopla value estimates are calculated using a proprietary algorithm (secret formula) that we have developed by analysing millions of data points relating to property sales and home characteristics throughout the UK. The algorithm works by comparing relationships between home prices, economic trends and property characteristics in given geographic areas. Our estimates are constantly refined by our team of analysts, using the most recent data available and a variety of statistical methodologies, in order to provide the most current information on any home.
Zoopla Limited is a privately held company, backed by leading international venture capital firm Atlas Venture.