Cost Of Owning A Home Drops

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The cost of owning and running a home in the UK has fallen by nearly a fifth over the past year thanks to falling mortgage repayments, according to new research by Halifax.

Between April 2008 and April 2009, the average annual cost of housing fell from £8,766 to £7,298, a decline of 17% or £1,468 – this fall was driven by a 47% decline in mortgage interest payments.

The expense of owning and running a home is at its lowest since 2006, and mortgage interest payments were the only housing expense category to experience a fall between April 2008 and April 2009. The largest upward pressure on housing costs came from electricity and gas charges, which have risen by 13% over the past year from £1,249 in April 2008 to £1,409 in April 2009.

This illustrates perfectly how crucial a cheap mortgage is in your day-to-day living – if you can reduce your mortgage outgoings then you will find you have a lot more room to manoeuvre.

Suren Thiru, economist at Halifax, says: "With mortgage interest payments declining by almost half over the past year, the annual cost associated with owning and running a home in the UK has fallen significantly. Such a sizeable drop in the costs of running a home will help to ease the pressure on household disposable income, providing some welcome relief to homeowners.

"Those living in London saw the biggest fall in housing costs over the past year, although the average annual expense of owning and running a home in the capital remains somewhat higher than elsewhere in the UK."

SOURCE: Halifax, 27/06/09

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