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68% of UK houses now owner-occupied
As we begin a new decade, Halifax has looked over the past 50 years and identified the key changes in the UK housing market. The analysis starts at the end of the 1950s and commences with the record growth in housebuilding through the 1960s. This was a time of significant social investment.
The average UK house price has increased by 273% since 1959 in real terms (i.e. after allowing for retail price inflation), at an average annual rate of 2.7%. This is faster than the 2% per annum average rise in real earnings over the period.
House prices recorded their biggest increase in the latest decade with a real rise of 62% during the 2000s; marginally ahead of the 61% increase in the 1980s. The worst performing decade for house prices was the 1990s when prices fell by 22% in real terms.
Pronounced cycles have been a key feature of the housing market since 1959. There have been four distinct periods of rapid real house price growth: 1971-73, 1977-80, 1985-89 and 1998-2007. Each of these periods was followed by a significant fall in real house prices.
Owner-occupation in the UK has increased by 25 percentage points from 43% in 1961 to 68% in 2008. The biggest rise in owner-occupation occurred in the 1980s following the introduction of the Right to Buy scheme.
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