This equates to a total of £164 billion spent on 1,054,936 new homes.
Spending levels in 2004 are likely to be broadly similar to those of last year, Clear Cut Mortgages expects. The company believes spending on the buy-to-let market will remain level, if not grow a little this year, despite signs that the market is cooling in the south.
First-time-buyers are finding it harder to get onto the first rung of the housing ladder, but Clear Cut feels that the worst is over for buyers in this market and that levels of spend will remain the same taking the country as a whole. For those in the South East and London, Clear Cut expects to see things flat. However, first timers in the north will start to find things harder during the course of 2004 as prices are rising dramatically in this region.
Around the country, those in the South East spent the most last year, with 240,764 homes changing hands in the year – an average of 660 houses with a value of £131 million every day. Londoners come in second, with 356 homes a day valued at £90 million. The South West completes the southern dominance at the top of the table, exchanging on 306 houses valued at £52 million each day.
Reflecting the heated market in the North of England, the North West and Yorkshire take third and fifth places in the table, with 351 and 278 houses changing hands daily. These were valued at £35 million and £29 million respectively.
At the other end of the table, East Anglia was lowest in volume terms, with 131 houses a day. Wales comes second-to-last in terms of daily volume, although it is bottom in terms of daily value, as the Welsh spent “just” £15 million a day on 146 houses. However, this is clearly influenced by the greater populations of higher spending regions.
Ben Thompson, director, Clear Cut Mortgages said: “The total £164 billion a year spent on homes in England and Wales equates to the Gross Domestic Product of South Africa on an annual basis and matches the value of UK exports. It would buy all the companies in the FTSE100 by market capitalisation. We could buy David Beckham 6,500 times over, 1,171 Chelsea Football Clubs or 23 Roman Abramovich-es if spending on the nation’s favourite habit was diverted to the nation’s favourite game.
“The English and Welsh have got the housing bug and it remains our most expensive habit. The totals are likely to be much the same for 2004, and we expect that consumers will continue their home-buying habits.
“The divide between North and South is likely to close. We expect that the South East and London bubble will start to deflate slowly and that, while these areas are likely to remain top of the table, prices will top out in these regions. However, we feel that we will see continued growth in sales in the northern regions and that house prices will rise more sharply in 2004 here, balancing out a southern slow-down. It will be buyers in the north who keep the volume and value of the market as a whole at 2003 levels in the year to come.
“Despite the recent interest rate rises, this year is set to be another bumper one in the housing market as the property obsession continues.”
