Value of UK housing stock has risen by 7% to £8.17tn, study finds

The total value of Britain’s 28.9m homes has risen by more than 7% in 2016 to reach a total of £8.17tn, according to new research.

This means the average property has gone up in value by £56.57 a day, according to property website Zoopla, which named the Norfolk market town of Diss as “the year’s biggest winner” when it came to price growth.

The site analysed its price data between 1 January and 7 December 2016, and said Britain’s total housing stock was now worth £8,165,502,086,907. This was an increase of £559bn – or 7.35% – since January.

Regionally, property values in the east of England were said to have grown the most since the start of the year – by 11.56% on average, to reach a typical £358,401. The West Midlands was in second place with an increase of 8.74%.

London, which has previously been the region leading the charge, was third from bottom in the table with an increase of 5.12%.

At a local level, Diss was named the “best-performing” town, experiencing a growth rate of 16.2% and taking the average home’s value to £305,896.

It was one of a number of locations that have become increasingly popular with people who are looking for somewhere that enables them to buy a bigger property than they could obtain in London and at the same time continue to work in the capital. The fastest trains offer a commuting time between Diss and London Liverpool Street of less than 90 minutes.

Leatherhead in Surrey came second, with properties typically rising 14.7% to reach £833,631.

Aberdeen was named the “poorest performing” town in terms of property values over the past year, with average prices falling by an average of 2.83% to £217,234.

The collapse in global oil prices has sent house prices tumbling in Aberdeen and other areas reliant on the North Sea oil industry.

The data also showed Brits spent 2016 looking for outside space.

According to Zoopla keyword search figures for the year, “garden” remained the most popular term. However, “garage” rose from third to second place. The biggest mover was “parking,” which soared from the eighth to the fourth most popular search term when compared with this time last year.

Lawrence Hall, a spokesperson for the site, said: “2016 has certainly been a historic year, with the events of the past six months giving rise to potential political uncertainty. However, the property market – it seems – remains resilient, and property values across Britain have continued to grow.”