Have a guess what the total value of privately owned homes in the UK is, go on have a think and pick a figure. Got it? OK, research conducted by Halifax (you’ve skipped this and looked at the number haven’t you), were you close? £3.755 Trillion, which is, a lot and more than double what the housing stock was worth just ten years ago.

Sitting at £1.719trn in 1999, the increase of more than £2trn in property value is equivalent to £33,000 per person in the UK, but as would be expected the value of the nation’s housing stock has fallen by 8% in the last 3 years, reflecting the reduction in those able to sell property and the drop in house prices. The research also revealed that the north-south gap is narrowing with the value of housing in the north increasing by 132% compared to 109% in the south over the decade.