MortgagesApr 17 2014

Only London and SE house prices back to 2007 levels

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By the end of 2013 only property prices in London and the south east had actually recovered to their 2007 peak, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed.

In an article on the CML website, the trade body admitted the vast majority of the housing market - and the lending to it - that exists outside London is experiencing “nothing like the euphoric conditions” that are filling the capital’s media column inches and broadcast news at the moment.

The CML stated while the rocketing prices of London were not reflected in the bulk of the country the London experience does influence national data, “sometimes quite significantly.”

Out of the total 9 per cent annual house price growth in the UK, the CML reported 1 per cent of the increase is accounted for purely because of the influence that London data has on the overall average.

The trade body stated of the £897bn total outstanding lending in Great Britain among seven major lenders, £230bn (26 per cent) was in London.

Looking at tenure, when London is excluded, the CML stated the tenure pattern in the rest of the UK follows a path very similar to that in the UK overall – increasing to the mid-2000s and then falling.

However, when London is excluded, a larger proportion of households own their own home - 67 per cent compared with 65 per cent in the UK overall - while there is a marginally lower incidence of private renting, 16 per cent compared to 17 per cent in the UK overall.