The home owners with 1% mortgage rates are those who took out a Bank of England base rate tracker a few years ago when credit was cheap. They got a deal along the lines of half a percent over the base rate, and then lucked out when it dropped.
Four or five years ago it was possible to fix a mortgage rate at 4.99% for 25 years.
I don't know if it's still the case, but until recently you could only get a cheap deal in the UK if you've got a 40% deposit. If you had 10% then the banks would jack mortgage rates up significantly.
I wouldn't be surprised if the housing market has a second dip. Prices are still high relative to wages, and first time buyers without parental support are virtually extinct. (Something like 25% to 30% of buyers are first timers, of which 80% or more have family money helping them. Historically they've made up 40% or 50% of the market.)
London's probably been supported by the weak pound encouraging foreign investors (Russians and Greeks mainly), and the City has been doing very well with all the government support for the financial markets.
As for the wider economy, it could go either way. I get the impression that it's in a better shape than is believed, but a lot of sectors are down. House building is one of them.
The government are bringing in a bunch of measures to stop things from going a bit Greek, and there's talk of large job cuts in the public sector. 600,000 is one number that's been mentioned.
Needless to say, the unions aren't happy, but dropping a lot of people onto the job market could depress things further.