ROOF Blog

Average household wealth in the south-east of England is almost twice that in Scotland, according to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) first ‘Wealth in Great Britain’ report, which also found that London was not as wealthy as you might think.

The ONS painted a detailed picture of affluence and borrowing habits after collecting evidence from 31,000 households across Britain and estimating the value of their housing, pension investments and other possessions.

For many of the respondents to the survey, accumulating a healthy portfolio of assets was a distant dream: the least wealthy 10 per cent of households had negative total net wealth – owing more on their mortgages or other loans than their properties and other goods are worth.

Research from the Office for National Statistics shows that almost one in five graduates in their late twenties now live with their parents.

By contrast, only one in eight university graduates had failed to fly the nest by the same age 20 years ago.

Rising property prices, mounting student debts and the effects of recession on the job market have forced a wave of young people to move back into the family home at an age when they would normally be moving out.

The research suggests that young people in Britain are twice as likely to live with their parents in their late twenties than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe.

Net migration – the number of people who come to live in Britain minus the number who move abroad – fell by more than a third to 163,000 last year, its lowest level since Poland joined the European Union.

The Office for National Statistics said the fall from 233,000 in 2007 was mainly driven by a rise in emigration to a 17-year high: 427,000 people left Britain to live abroad, up from 341,000 the previous year.

The increase was mainly due to the number of Poles returning home.

Asylum figures show a further fall in the number of fresh claims for refugee status between July and September this year to 5,055 – a decline of 24 per cent compared with the same period in 2008.

Refugee welfare groups said the fall in asylum numbers was not necessarily a matter of celebration but raised fears that the tightening up of Britain’s borders was denying sanctuary to those who needed protection.