The last decade was the first on record in which homeowners invested more equity into their properties than they withdrew, according to new research by Responsible Life.

The retirement mortgage expert reported that analysis of Bank of England (BoE) housing equity withdrawal data between 1970 and 2019 showed UK adults had injected £271bn of equity into their homes during the 2010s – a ‘mirror image’ of the preceding decade in which homeowners had withdrawn £275bn.

The BoE data measures Housing Equity Withdrawal by taking the difference between net lending secured on homes and households’ gross investment in housing.

Responsible Life’s analysis suggested the financial crash of 2008 was a turning point for equity withdrawal as, from June 2008 onward, it marked the first time there were 12 successive months with more equity injected into property than withdrawn.

Responsible Life managing director, Steve Wilkie, said: “The aftershocks of 2008’s financial earthquake continue to be felt in the property market.

“The financial uncertainty sparked by the crisis has created a generation of homeowners who are improvers rather than movers, using excess cash to invest in their property and pay down debt.

“This has helped to contribute to the inertia being felt in the property market, where transaction levels have failed to bounce back since 2008.”

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