Property owners in the UK aged 55 and over hold an aggregate total of £3.7tn in property wealth.
Data requested from the ONS by Just Group revealed those aged over 55 represented 68 per cent of the nation’s total housing wealth.
Those aged between 55 and 64 owned the greatest amount of private property wealth with a total value of £1.4tn, a quarter of the country’s total private housing wealth.
This was followed by those aged between 65 to 74, who held £1.2tn and those over 75 who held £1.1tn.
Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, said: “The sheer scale of property wealth held by older people enables them to plug into the powerhouse of financial resources held in their homes to meet a range of needs in later life, from topping up their own income in retirement to helping family.
“The ability to tap into this wealth will be particularly useful for people who may be entering retirement without the security of a defined benefit pension and with only modest defined contribution pensions.”
The data also revealed that there had been a sharp decline in the amount of housing wealth held by younger age groups.
Those aged 35 to 44 held £537bn, amounting to 10 per cent of overall housing wealth, while those between the ages of 25 to 34 held £219bn, representing just four per cent of the nations’ property wealth.
alina.khan@ft.com
