Property and pensions are the key elements of household wealth, according to the latest Wealth & Assets survey from ONS - but households have hugely different ownership of both.

The survey underlines the importance of property assets and, increasingly, pension assets when it comes to total household wealth.

ONS found that net property wealth is the biggest part of household wealth at 40% but private pension wealth was close behind at 35%.

Net financial wealth at 14% and physical wealth 10% made up smaller proportions of total household wealth.

The survey found that the higher the household wealth the more likely pensions were to be the most important element in total wealth.

For the top 10% wealthiest households property wealth was worth £624,000 but pension wealth was worth slightly more at £626,000.

The survey found that median household wealth in Great Britain is now £293,700 but the wealthiest 10% of households hold wealth of just over £1.2m.

Median household wealth varied significantly by region. The biggest gap was between the South East at £489,800 and the North East at £179,900.

ONS said that households who owned their property outright, and households with a head aged between 65 and 74 years, saw the largest increases in median household financial wealth over the period, at £4,300 (8%) and £3,300 (12%), respectively in the period between 2020 and 2022.

The ONS survey covered April 2020 to March 2022. The ONS pointed out that “economic uncertainty” may have affected the figures, some of which were collected during the Covid 19 lockdown period.

Overall the survey underlined the high level of wealth owned by older age groups with significant pension savings. ONS said the wealthiest households were those, “where the household head was around state pension age, retired, or owned their property outright.”

Median household wealth was 33 times higher among households with a head aged 65 to 74 years, compared with households in which the head was aged 16 to 24 years.

Household wealth reaches a peak of £502,500 for households with a head aged 65 to 74 years but after State Pension age, household wealth often starts to decline as pension wealth is used in retirement, ONS said.

Household wealth is typically higher for older households because younger households often have little property wealth and older households, who own their property may, will have benefitted from an increase in house prices over their lifetime. Older households also typically have more years of active contributions to a private pension than younger age groups.

Household wealth was over 15 times higher for households who owned their property outright, compared with those who rented.

Winston Ruddick, senior consultant in the Financial Planning team at Broadstone, said: “Inequal distribution of wealth across the country is the main takeaway of the latest ONS Wealth & Assets Survey which clearly illustrates a divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.

“While the top decile are millionaires in terms of their overall wealth, the least wealthy 10% have less than £20,000 which not only leaves them financially insecure in the short-term but paints a bleak picture in terms of their longer-term prospects looking ahead to retirement. Property accounts for the highest proportion of household wealth and is evidently the key dividing line as demonstrated by the wealth chasm between the South East and the North East with a median gap in household wealth of £309,900.

“Owning your own home continues to act as a proxy for financial security and wealth appreciation with those who own outright seeing their median financial wealth grow by £4,300 in the two years to 2020-2022 compared to just a £400 bump for renters.”