Owner occupiers aged 60 and over held a record £2.89tn of net housing wealth in homes worth a total of £2.95tn, research from Savills has found.
Savills said those who own their homes outright, mainly older homeowners, increased their share of property value over the last decade as more mortgage-free owners joined their ranks.
Research revealed that in total, over 60s controlled 56% of owner-occupier housing wealth, while those over 75 held 23%.
Meanwhile, under 35s held only 6%.
Over 60s still had £60bn of mortgage debt outstanding, but this was just 2% of their total home value, according to Savills.
In comparison, under 35s held £600bn of property, with £300bn in outstanding mortgages.
Regionally, Savills revealed that baby boomers held the highest share of homeownership in the South West and Wales, both at 49%.
In London, only 38% of homeowners were over 60.
Owner-occupier wealth was highest in the South East, where over 60s held £603bn in housing wealth, accounting for 21% of the total for this age group.
This was £203bn more than in London, and £171bn more than in Wales and the South West together.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: “Over the past 10 years, debt has become a less important component of the growth in the value of the nation’s housing stock, with increasingly more equity concentrated among older homeowners and investors.
“The baby boomers have continued to build wealth, having paid off their mortgage debt, and Generation X has been working hard to achieve the same goal.
“Meanwhile, Generations Y and Z have had much less opportunity to work their way up the housing ladder profitably.”
Cook added: “But despite many older homeowners holding on to properties that are now too big for their needs, there is little incentive for them to move during their lifetime.
“While boomers make up 44% of homeowners, they only made up 18.5% of homebuyers last year. Meaning that just one in 57 of them moved house.”
He said: “The provision of more retirement housing, along with other incentives to make downsizing more appealing are also fundamentally important.
“Such measures would help unlock much-needed family housing and equity that can be used to help younger generations get on and trade up the housing ladder.”
