Average UK household owns £1.2m less than richest

The wealth of the richest UK households is on average £1.2m higher than typical Brits, a new report released today shows.

Wealth inequality has hovered around the same level since the mid-1980s, albeit from an already elevated footing, with the richest consistently owning around half of the UK’s stock of assets, according to the Resolution Foundation.

The widening wealth gap has been driven by house and stock prices surging over the last decade. Experts have argued historic low interest rates and central bank quantitative easing has propelled asset prices.

Older people now own more than half of the UK’s wealth, while younger people “are now accumulating wealth at a much slower rate than older age groups were at the same age,” the report said.

“Policy makers must prioritise supporting these wealth-less households during the current crisis, as well as recognising how wealth is reshaping Britain, and not always in a positive way,” Jack Leslie, senior economist at the Foundation, said.