UK homes lose value

The end of the housing boom and the onset of the credit crunch have seen the total value of UK homes decline by £300 billion, it has been suggested.

Property valuation website Zoopla.co.uk said the total value of all homes in the country has fallen from a highpoint of £6.1 trillion in September 2007 to £5.8 trillion now, Finance Markets reports.

The figure is based on an aggregate of the value of Britain's 26 million homes.

Zoopla stated that the last five years had seen total house values in Britain rise by £1.7 trillion.

Householders concerned at falls in the value of their property, particularly those planning to sell fairly soon, may look to bolster their value by renovating the property with new elements that can increase the attractiveness of them to any potential future buyer.

Jason Orme, the editor of Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine, commented this week: "Any added value that you can add at the moment should offset any potential price falls, or should offset most of them anyway."