Factories and office blocks add a further £2tn to the value of UK property. The boost to property contrasts with the state of the country’s more liquid financial assets, such as shareholdings, employee stock options, savings and pensions. In contrast to the US, where many banks and property developers were allowed to go bust, in effect writing off the bad loans, UK banks and property companies were bailed out. The ONS figures show that the growth of UK’s property and fixed asset values outstripped that of all other G7 countries while Britain’s total financial assets – collecting together the financial assets of households, the government and companies - put in the worst performance in the G7. Japan had the highest financial net worth in the G7 at £1.9tn while the UK and Italy had the lowest, both at minus £0.3tn.

Source: The Guardian August 18, 2016 16:20 UTC