Saving figures show distorted picture
Published On 25 July 2007
People in the UK have more savings and equity than debt, a new report suggests.Figures released by Alliance & Leicester show that personal savings and equity total £5.1 trillion in the UK - compared to a total figure of £1.3 trillion for mortgage and other debt.
However, the lender warned that this personal wealth in not evenly spread over the country. In fact, 51 per cent of the nation's assets are held by people living south of Watford.
In contrast, people from Scotland and Wales face a future of debt as they control just 10.6 per cent of the nation's assets - despite accounting for 14.2 per cent of the UK's households.
In addition, 42 per cent of Brits have total savings of less than £10,000 and a further 29 per cent have no savings at all.
"Britons are increasingly losing the savings habit," warned Ewan Edwards, head of savings and investments at Alliance & Leicester.
"On average we are saving just 2.1 per cent of our disposable income - compared to six per cent on average over the last ten years, itself low by historic standards."
Recent figures from Unbiased.co.uk showed that, for every £1 saved in the UK, consumers borrowed 41p.
