ONS: property wealth rising by £200bn a year

During the period of July 2012 to June 2014, half of all households who owned property had net property wealth of £152,500 or more.

The highest median value of net property wealth was seen amongst households in London, where half of all households who owned property had net property wealth of £260,000 or more during July 2012 to June 2014.

Half of all households with a mortgage on their main residence owed £83,000 or more during July 2012 to June 2014.

Just over 1 in 10 households (11%) owned other property during the period July 2012 to June 2014. Most of these were buy-to-let properties (4%) and second homes (3%).

Mark Posniak, Managing Director of Dragonfly Property Finance, said:
 
"This eye-opening report underlines how central property wealth is to the average UK household. Between July 2012 and June 2014, Britain's properties delivered growth of roughly £200bn a year.
 
"In 2014, Finland's GDP was £184bn, which means Britain's property market is effectively an economy in itself. UK homeowners have been able to sit back while their properties, collectively, generate more cash than entire countries.
 
"With recent price rises, it was inevitable that net property wealth would have increased but for it to have risen by £399bn over a two-year period puts it into a whole new perspective.
 
"It comes as no surprise that households in London have the highest net property wealth. Property prices in the capital may have come off the boil over the past year or so but before that they were rising exponentially. The average London homeowner is now considerably better off as a result."