For some big-picture thinking about the UK property market, we have taken the liberty of compiling a factsheet around some of the numbers that drive it.

Headline figures:

• £234,370: the average house price in the UK
• 85 sq m: the average size of a home in the UK
• £35,423: the average UK salary for those in full-time work
• 6:1: the UK house price to average salary ratio. Twenty years ago, it was 3:1
• Households by type:
  • 34% own their home outright
  • 28% own with a mortgage
  • 20% rent privately
  • 17% are in the social renting sector

Mortgages:

• 94 million: the number of mortgages in the UK
• £1.451 trillion: the amount of outstanding mortgage lending in the UK
• 25%: average deposit for a buy to let mortgage. This compares to a 15% average deposit for a first-time buyer mortgage
• 3.89%: the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate
• £132,633 average mortgage debt per property
• 76,580: the number of homeowner mortgages in arrears in the UK during Q1 2019
• 1 every 94 minutes: the frequency of home repossessions during Q1 2019

Renting:

• £967 pcm: the average national rent
• 9%: the proportion of tenants in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) who are in rent arrears. This compares to 25% of social tenants
• WC1X: the worst yielding postcode for buy-to-let investments, with a 2.28% yield
• L1: the best yielding postcode for buy-to-let investments, with a 10.00% yield

The housing shortage:

• 9.1 million homes: the size of England’s current housing shortage
• 340,000: the number of new homes need to be built each year until 2031 to tackle the housing shortage
• £189,940: the average cost of building a home

The London market:

• £1,694 pcm: the average London rent, 75% higher than the national average
• £653,828: The average house price in London, 179% higher than the national average

 
Sources:
www.landregistry.data.gov.uk
www.statista.com/statistics/752203/average-cost-of-rent-by-region-uk
www.realyse.com
www.totallymoney.com/buy-to-let-yield-map
www.homelet.co.uk/homelet-rental-index
www.architectureforlondon.com