Millennials as likely to own 2nd home as baby boomers

One in 10 people in the UK now owns a second home with wealth from owning additional property almost £1 trillion.

New research from the Resolution Foundation think-tank has revealed that the numbers of those with a second home, buy-to-let or overseas property has doubled since 2001.

Half of those who were born in the 1960s are now homeowners, compared to 37 percent of those born in the 1980s, says the think-tank.

However, of those who own a second property, half are from the so-called millennial generation, matching other age cohorts in home ownership, including the Baby Boomers (those born in the two decades after the Second World War).

That, according to the Resolution Foundation, means the UK's property wealth is not fairly distributed across either the nation's regions or across its generations.

The think-tank wants the Government to reform the housing market so that first-time buyers find it easier to become homeowners.

Policy analyst George Bangham said: "The sheer scale of additional property wealth is an important driver of rising wealth gaps across Britain.

"While young people in particular are less likely to own their own home than previous generations, those that do own are more likely to have more than one property.

"And as the huge stock of second homes, buy-to-let and overseas properties starts to be passed on to younger generations, Britain risks becoming a country where getting ahead in life depends as much on what you inherit as what you earn."