Data on household wealth in Great Britain by ethnic group. Includes total, property, financial, physical and private pension wealth by age, region, household composition and housing tenure.

The overall wealth of households in the United Kingdom was **** trillion British pounds in the period between 2020 and 2022. Of this overall wealth, the top ten percent of households had over *** trillion pounds of wealth, compared with **** billion owned by the lowest wealth decile.

Total wealth is the sum of the four components of wealth and is therefore net of all liabilities.

The financial net worth of households per capita in the United Kingdom amounted to ****** U.S. dollars in 2024. Between 1995 and 2024, the net worth per capita rose by ****** U.S. dollars, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend.

The values of any financial assets held including both formal investments, such as bank or building society current or saving accounts, investment vehicles such as Individual Savings Accounts, endowments, stocks and shares, and informal savings.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the wealthiest one percent of people in the United Kingdom controlled 71 percent of net personal wealth, while the top ten percent controlled 93 percent. The share of wealth controlled by the rich in the United Kingdom fell throughout the twentieth century, and by 1990 the richest one percent controlled 16 percent of wealth, and the richest ten percent just over half of it.

A dataset containing decile boundaries for equivalised household spending, financial wealth and property wealth, as well as breakdowns for overspending and poverty by region and household type.

Households that have liquidity problems and solvency problems only

Household shares and other equity as a percentage of total households and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) financial assets in the United Kingdom (UK) decreased overall between 2000 and 2023. As of 2023, shares and equities in the United Kingdom amounted to approximately **** percent of total household assets, roughly five percentage points less than in 2000.

The data in this analysis is derived from the Office for National Statistics Wealth and Assets Survey.

It provides new data from wave 3 of the survey (July 2010 to June 2012). It also provides revised data from from wave 1 (July 2006 to June 2008) and wave 2 (July 2008 to June 2010).

The Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) is a longitudinal survey, which aims to address gaps identified in data about the economic well-being of households by gathering information on level of assets, savings and debt; saving for retirement; how wealth is distributed among households or individuals; and factors that affect financial planning. Private households in Great Britain were sampled for the survey (meaning that people in residential institutions, such as retirement homes, nursing homes, prisons, barracks or university halls of residence, and also homeless people were not included).

The WAS commenced in July 2006, with a first wave of interviews carried out over two years, to June 2008. Interviews were achieved with 30,595 households at Wave 1. Those households were approached again for a Wave 2 interview between July 2008 and June 2010, and 20,170 households took part. Wave 3 covered July 2010 - June 2012, Wave 4 covered July 2012 - June 2014 and Wave 5 covered July 2014 - June 2016. Revisions to previous waves' data mean that small differences may occur between originally published estimates and estimates from the datasets held by the UK Data Service. Data are revised on a wave by wave basis, as a result of backwards imputation from the current wave's data. These revisions are due to improvements in the imputation methodology.

Note from the WAS team - November 2023:

“The Office for National Statistics has identified a very small number of outlier cases present in the seventh round of the Wealth and Assets Survey covering the period April 2018 to March 2020. Our current approach is to treat cases where we have reasonable evidence to suggest the values provided for specific variables are outliers. This approach did not occur for two individuals for several variables involved in the estimation of their pension wealth. While we estimate any impacts are very small overall and median pension wealth and median total wealth estimates are unaffected, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of the pension wealth within the wealthiest decile, and data derived from them. We are urging caution in the interpretation of more detailed estimates.”

Survey Periodicity - "Waves" to "Rounds"
Due to the survey periodicity moving from “Waves” (July, ending in June two years later) to “Rounds” (April, ending in March two years later), interviews using the ‘Wave 6’ questionnaire started in July 2016 and were conducted for 21 months, finishing in March 2018. Data for round 6 covers the period April 2016 to March 2018. This comprises of the last three months of Wave 5 (April to June 2016) and 21 months of Wave 6 (July 2016 to March 2018). Round 5 and Round 6 datasets are based on a mixture of original wave-based datasets. Each wave of the survey has a unique questionnaire and therefore each of these round-based datasets are based on two questionnaires. While there may be some changes in the questionnaires, the derived variables for the key wealth estimates have not changed over this period. The aim is to collect the same data, though in some cases the exact questions asked may differ slightly. Detailed information on Moving the Wealth and Assets Survey onto a financial years’ basis was published on the ONS website in July 2019.

A Secure Access version of the WAS, subject to more stringent access conditions, is available under SN 6709; it contains more detailed geographic variables than the EUL version. Users are advised to download the EUL version first (SN 7215) to see if it is suitable for their needs, before considering making an application for the Secure Access version.

Further information and documentation may be found on the ONS "https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/methodologies/wealthandassetssurveywas" title="Wealth and Assets Survey"> Wealth and Assets Survey webpage. Users are advised to the check the page for updates before commencing analysis.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022 data files

The ONS have identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. For further information on this issue, please see: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys.

The data dictionary for round 8 person file is not available.

Latest edition information

For the 20th edition (May 2025), the Round 8 data files were updated to include variables personr7, nounitsr8 and porage1tar8, and derived binary versions of multi-choice questions, their collected equivalents and imputed binary versions of these variables. Also, variables that were only collected for part of the round have been removed. Additional documentation for Round 8 was also added to the study, including an updated variable list and derived variable specifications.

Percentage of total wealth owned by households in each decile for London and Great Britain. Data extracted from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) microdata. This dataset is one of the Greater London Authority's measures of Economic Fairness. Click here to find out more.

Examining income, spending and wealth to better understand the financial well-being of households.

From 2018 to 2020, most low-income households in Great Britain had financial debt, but few of them had any property debt. In contrast, wealthier households had similar shares of property and financial debt. Households from the third to the ***** deciles had the highest proportions of indebtedness. Meanwhile, ** percent of households in the first decile had problem debt, a much higher share than any other group.

Graph and download economic data for Divisia Money Index: Household Sector in the United Kingdom (DMIHSUKQ) from Q1 1977 to Q4 2016 about divisia, academic data, monetary aggregates, United Kingdom, sector, households, and indexes.

As of 2022, from the almost ** million people living in the United Kingdom (UK), ***** people were considered to be U.S. dollar millionaires. ***** UK citizens were thought to be in the top one percent of global wealth holders.

The small area model-based income estimates are the official estimates of average (mean) household income at the middle layer super output area (MSOA) level in England and Wales for 2011/12, 2013/14 and 2015/16.

For 2015-16 the figures are average annual income. For 2013/14 and 2011/12 the figures are average weekly income.

They are calculated using a model based method to produce the following four estimates of income using a combination of survey data from the Family Resources Survey, and previously published data from the 2011 Census and a number of administrative data sources. The four different measures of income are:

1. Total household income
2. Net household income
3. Net household income (equivalised) before housing costs
4. Net household income (equivalised) after housing costs

Total annual household income is the sum of the gross income of every member of the household plus any income from benefits such as Working Families Tax Credit.

Net annual household income is the sum of the net income of every member of the household. It is calculated using the same components as total income but income is net of:

• income tax payments;
• national insurance contributions;
• domestic rates/council tax;
• contributions to occupational pension schemes;
• all maintenance and child support payments, which are deducted from the income of the person making the payments; and
• parental contribution to students living away from home.

Net annual household income before housing costs (equivalised) is composed of the same elements as net household weekly income but is subject to the OECD’s equivalisation scale.

Net annual household income after housing costs (equivalised) is composed of the same elements of net household weekly income but is subject to the following deductions prior to the OECD’s equivalisation scale being applied:

• rent (gross of housing benefit);
• water rates, community water charges and council water charges;
• mortgage interest payments (net of any tax relief);
• structural insurance premiums (for owner occupiers); and
• ground rent and service charges.

For detailed information on aspects of the quality and methodology behind these statistics, "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/methodologies/smallareaincomeestimatesmodelbasedestimatesofthemeanhouseholdweeklyincomeformiddlelayersuperoutputareas201314technicalreport " target="_blank">see the Technical Report.

This dataset is included in the Greater London Authority's Night Time Observatory. Click here to find out more.

The British Household Panel Survey Pension Wealth Derived Variable Data, 1991-2001 contain estimates of respondents' pension wealth in each year from 1991 to 2001, which were derived from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) by making use of the additional questions about private pensions which were included in BHPS Wave 11. As a result, these measures of pension wealth are only available for individuals who responded to Wave 11 of the BHPS. The data comprise information on accrued and projected pension wealth. See documentation for further details.

The main BHPS study is held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33196.

For the second edition (May 2008), a new version of the data and documentation have been deposited due to an error in the pension wealth measures for 2000.

House prices vary widely in the United Kingdom (UK), but housing in certain cities and counties is substantially pricier than in others. Surrey, for example, concentrated four of the most expensive towns to buy a home, including Virginia Water, Cobham, and Esher. With an average house price of over *********** British pounds as of June 2024, housing in these towns cost roughly **** times the national average. How did house prices change since the COVID-19 pandemic? Since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demand for housing has been especially high, causing house prices to soar. Among major UK cities, the house price increase was most prominent in Belfast, where it rose by *** percent in 2024. According to the UK House Price Index, the average annual house price increase on a national level was even higher. How long does it take to sell a house? With the demand for housing going strong and inventory running low, aspiring homeowners need to act faster than ever when making an offer on a home. The average number of days on market has continued shortening since the start of 2021 and was a little over a month as of October 2021. Surprisingly, selling a property took the longest in the UK’s most competitive market - London.