Value of the UK soars by £326 billion in just one year

Last updated at 13:32 23 July 2007


The UK is worth a total of £6.525 trillion, with housing making up most of the country's wealth, official figures have shown.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which calculates the value of the UK's assets such as buildings, roads, machinery and financial assets, said the country was worth £326 billion more at the end of last year than it was at the end of 2005.

The rate of increase is nearly triple what it was during 2005, when the value of the country's assets rose by £119 billion.

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London

Housing continued to be the most valuable asset, worth a total of £3.915 trillion at the end of last year.

This was 10 per cent more than 12 months earlier, and accounted for 60 per cent of the country's total wealth.

Around £3.696 trillion of housing wealth belongs to individual households and non-profit organisations, the equivalent of 57 per cent of the UK's net worth.

But while the value of some assets increased during the year, it is also estimated that the depreciation of other assets totalled £148 billion last year.

The depreciation of plant and machinery accounted for 29 per cent of the total, however, while the value of plant and machinery in use has increased by 6 per cent during the past five years suggesting that investment is still greater than depreciation.

The report found that the total cost of replacing all capital assets in their current condition would be £2.835 trillion at current prices.

It added that the value of the UK's non-financial assets had increased from just £551 billion in 1948 to £2.639 trillion last year, when calculated in 2003 prices.

The figures were included in the ONS's Capital Stocks, Capital Consumption and Non-Financial Balance Sheets, which is published annually.

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