New research reveals annual housing costs in England and Wales now above £5,500

The total annual cost of housing across England and Wales is approximately £133 billion, with households paying an average of £5,593 per year according to new research.

While mortgage interest and repayments make up 49% of the total cost, private rents now account for 36% of housing costs, the research from international listing adviser Savills shows.

However, there is significant regional variation around this figure, reflecting a wide geographical divide. In London there are relatively few households who own their own home mortgage free, private rent makes up almost half of the total cost of housing, bringing the average cost per household to £11,329.

Meanwhile, in the North East where housing is comparatively less expensive in each tenure group and 24 per cent of the cost of housing is in the form of social rent, the average cost per household is £3,450.
‘London households foot the bill for over a quarter of the total annual cost of housing in England and Wales, due to a combination of the most expensive housing and the smallest percentage of homes owned outright,’ said Lucian Cook, head of Savills UK residential research.

‘Other major cities such as Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool and Southampton also have some of the highest levels of households with housing costs, but the availability of more affordable listing across all tenures reduces the total cost per home in these locations,’ he added,
 
At a more local level, of the 30 most expensive places to live by total cost per household, only six are outside London, namely Elmbridge, South Bucks, Winsor and Maidenhead, Epsom and Ewell, St Albans and Guildford.

The least expensive locations reflect not just lower value housing markets, but also where there are relatively high proportions of older home-owning households who have paid off their mortgage, such as Powys, Staffordshire Moorlands and Eden

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Source: Property News Spain