Household debt rises by seven per cent

THE AGGREGATE level of household debt in Britain reached £1.23trn in the period July 2014 to June 2016, seven per cent higher than in the preceding two year period, official figures show.

Financial debt (credit cards and loans) accounted for £117bn of the total, representing an increase of 15 per cent, while property debt rose by six per cent to £1.12trn.

The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in July 2014 to June 2016, 49 per cent of the population had some form of financial debt and 35 per cent had some form of property debt.

The level of debt from loans stood at £42.9bn, which was 12 per cent higher than in the period July 2012 to June 2014.

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The ONS also looked at the impact of debt on households’ finances.

Nine per cent of households said they found their financial debts to be a “heavy burden”, 21 per cent said they were somewhat of a burden and 70 per cent found their debts not to be a problem at all.

Overall, there has been a decline in the proportion of respondents with financial debt who consider it to be a burden.

The age group with the highest proportion of individuals with financial liabilities was 35 to 44 year-olds at 50 per cent, followed by 25 to 34 year-olds at 49 per cent. Only 14 per cent of people aged 65 and over had financial liabilities.

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The ONS statistics also reveal the number of British households that consider themselves to be millionaires has risen by 29 per cent to 3.6 million.

The median average wealth per British household, after borrowing is taken into account, was £259,400 in July 2016, up 15 per cent from two years earlier.

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