Slump sees £300bn wiped off house prices

Britons have collectively seen nearly £300 billion wiped off the value of their homes since house prices first began to fall, a report claims.

The value of residential property in Great Britain has slumped to £5.836 trillion from more than £6.1 trillion when prices peaked in September last year, according to property valuation website Zoopla.co.uk.

The group said the current market downturn had led to more than £1 billion a day being wiped off the collective value of British homes.

But it added that the recent price falls should be seen in the context of strong gains in recent years, with the value of Britain's housing stock soaring by £750 billion during the past three years and £1.7 trillion during the past five years.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of Britain's housing wealth is concentrated in London, with homes in the capital collectively valued at £776.26 billion, accounting for 13.3 per cent of the total.

Only four other cities in the country account for more than 1 per cent of the total, with Bristol having property worth £76.22 billion, followed by Glasgow at £75.16 billion, Birmingham at £67.96 billion and Manchester at £64.19 billion.

The other cities to make it into the top ten for the total value of their housing stock are Edinburgh, Nottingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield.

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