The value of UK housing stock rocketed past the £5trn mark in 2016, ending the year at a staggering £6.8trn, according to research from Savills.

But it’s the older generation holding onto the lion’s share of private property wealth. Those over 65 own 43% of all the equity held by owner occupiers, totalling £1.42trn. Younger homeowners, under 35, own just 5% of the total – £70bn of housing wealth.

This is partly down to older homeowners having paid off their mortgage, but also a direct result of the difficulties faced by aspiring first-time buyers.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, suggested this trend will only continue with the balance of housing wealth moving further towards pensioners.

He admitted it could get harder for younger homeowners to realise such staggering equity gains: “Economic uncertainty in the short term and more rigorous stress testing of mortgage lending in the longer term, will hold back house price growth and limit the ability of future generations to accumulate housing wealth.”

Regional split

London and the South East showed the strongest growth, clocking up a combined housing value of over £3trn last year.

By contrast, the Midlands, North, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined have 57% of all homes but only a third (36%) of the value.