Winner! UK leads Europe in mortgage market race

The UK is leading the way when it comes to the might of the mortgage sector and the number of properties purchased by borrowing, new research finds.

Mortgage broker Henry Dannell analysed property market data across European foreign nations to find that at 65.1%, the UK rests in the bottom 10 for the total share of the population that own their own home.

Those in just France, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Austria, Germany and Switzerland are less likely to own their own home, Romania is home to the highest level of homeowners as a percentage of the total population at 95.8%.

When it comes to the proportion of these homeowners that have borrowed in order to buy, Iceland ranks top, with 63.9% of all homeowners having a mortgage. 

At 37.5%, the UK ranks 10th in this respect, however, in terms of the sheer volume of homeowners financed via the mortgage sector, the UK sits top of the table.

In fact, Henry Dannell estimates that over 25.2 million homeowners in the UK have currently climbed the ladder with the help of the mortgage sector. Just Germany and France come close to this level, with an estimated 21.5 million and 21 million respectively. 

Spain (13.5 million) and the Netherlands (10.5 million) are the only other nations where the number of mortgage-backed homeowners exceeds the 10 million mark.

At the other end of the table, just 0.5% of all North Macedonian homeowners have a mortgage, equating to just 10,353 of the homeowning population. 

Geoff Garrett, director of Henry Dannell, comments: “Despite being home to some of the most notoriously high house prices in the world, homeownership remains the predominant strain in the UK property market’s DNA. “

“This is despite the fact that property values have spiralled in recent years and we’ve seen a greater acceptance of long-term renting as a lifestyle choice from younger generations.”

Garrett says the ability to buy with the help of a mortgage has been vital in helping many homebuyers realise their aspirations of homeownership.

“While mortgage-backed homeowners only account for just shy of 40% of the total market, this equates to a huge 25.2 million people,” he explains.

“This makes the UK mortgage sector by far the most pivotal and influential in Europe where the provision of finance in order to purchase a property is concerned.”