Lending data compiled by the Council for Mortgage Lenders showed that there is more mortgage debt in just one section in London than the debt in the entire Wales. The postcode-specific data released on Tuesday indicated that property homeowners in southwest London owed mortgages in the total amount of £29.2 billion as compared to borrowers in Wales at £28.5 billion.
The numbers were part of data coming from the Office for National Statistics, which also showed London house prices at a 12% increase in the past 12 months to October. The UK statistics office said the average house price in London is at £437,000, which is considerably higher than the average price of a house across England, which is at £257,000. The house price increase across the UK overall is 5.5%.
The data released by the CML covers all of building societies and the big high street banks and account 73% of the mortgage market overall in UK, according to The Financial Times report. CML data further revealed that 44% of all mortgage debt in the UK belonged to London and southeast buyers. These areas, indicated the CML data, account for 38.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Great Britain. Wales, on the other hand account for 3.5% of GDP and 3.2% of mortgage debt in all of UK.
On Tuesday, the British Bankers' Association also released a similar breakdown of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lending and personal loans per postcode. Although the bankers data showed that London only covers a little over fifth of total lending, official turnover data suggested that it is just under 30% of business activity of SMEs that occur in the capital.
BBA chief executive Anthony Browne said, "Lenders are supplying vital funding to SMEs across the country - proportionately, they are lending more to businesses across Britain than to those in London and the southeast, though borrowing generally reflects the geographic distribution of businesses in the country."
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