Why Britons are worth £155,000 each

BRITAIN has been valued at £10.2trillion – or £155,000 per person.

This is more than treble the figure in 1995, according to the Office for National Statistics, with much of this growth due to the soaring cost of land and rising house prices. And it is £492bn more than in 2016. Nearly all of last year’s increase came from a £450bn rise in land, meaning it is now worth £5.4trillion, or 53pc of all British wealth. This is close to the record 53.3pc which was reached on the eve of the financial crisis as prices rocketed, and is likely to fuel fears a bubble has grown.

Far more of Britain’s riches are tied up in land values than other large countries, making us particularly vulnerable to sudden crashes in the market. For example, land accounts for 41.9pc of France’s assets, and just 25.9pc of German wealth.

Rising UK house prices added another £40bn to the nation’s value.

Housing accounts for 17.8pc of the total national value.

But there are signs this may have peaked, with London property prices falling 0.7pc in the year to June.