UK millionaires shoot up as households get richer
U.K. households are nearly £100,000 wealthier than a decade ago, according to a report by Lloyds Bank on Saturday.
The U.K. bank estimated household wealth reached £7.84 trillion at the end of 2013, an increase of £3.07 trillion over the decade, or £96,000 per household.
The news may come as a surprise to U.K. citizens who are still feeling the pinch, as economic growth remains subdued following the global financial crisis of 2007/08 and subsequent recession.
Official statistics suggest the economy was 0.6 percent smaller in the first quarter of 2014 than at its peak six years before.
However, Ashish Misra, head of investment policy at Lloyds Bank Private Banking, noted an upsurge in household wealth over the past year, with growth of £717 billion. This was the largest annual rise in a decade.
"Increasing activity in the housing market and continued growth in equity prices has boosted household wealth. These figures, to an extent, provide further evidence that the recovery in the U.K. economy is gathering pace," she wrote in Saturday's report.
Lloyds's measure of wealth covered financial assets, including bank deposits, government bonds, shares and pensions, as well as housing wealth. This latter has risen by £1.22 trillion or 58 percent since 2003.
"A booming housing market coupled with rising equity prices have resulted in a rapid expansion in the number of millionaires," Misra wrote.
The U.K.'s home price spiral, which is particularly noticeable in London and the South East, has fueled concerns of a housing bubble. Nationwide's widely watched index indicated that prices rose 1.2 percent last month, although the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reported that prices eased somewhat.
Bubble concerns have led to calls that the Bank of England cool the market by raising the base rate off its record low of 0.5 percent. In addition, three former chancellors of the exchequer have asked the government to rethink its "Help to Buy" program, in particular its guarantee of high loan-to-value mortgages.