UK personal wealth at £6 trillion

UK personal wealth at £6 trillion

The wealth of UK households has been given a dramatic boost by rising house prices, says the Halifax bank.

It calculates that total net personal wealth more than doubled between 1996 and 2006, to £6.336 trillion.

More than half that rise is due to higher house prices which pushed up the value of peoples’ homes, after mortgage debt, to £2.7 trillion.

While house prices rose by 216% in that time, the lender says mortgage debt rose more slowly, by just 163%.