Britain’s two-speed housing market mapped

The startling divide between haves and have-nots in the UK’s housing market has worsened over the past decade.

Landlords and those who own their home outright have benefited while those who bought houses by borrowing from banks and other lenders have struggled. Housing equity – the value of a property that is actually owned, rather than borrowed against – is unevenly distributed across the country. The proportion of homeowners who own their homes outright is particularly high in rural areas, as well as in wealthy places such as Kensington and Chelsea in London.

By contrast the most indebted mortgage holders tend to be concentrated in poor urban areas – particularly in the northwest, south Wales and central Scotland. And Britain’s richest landlords are concentrated in London and southern England, where substantial amounts of equity have built up, thanks to rents covering mortgage payments while house prices soar.

Data on housing wealth and mortgage debt at district level are shown in the interactive graphic below. Click an area to see the underlying figures.

Source: Savills. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors via MapBox