Britons paid more in rent than on mortgage payments last year, says Savills, while housing wealth owned by mortgaged landlords overtook that held by mortgaged owner occupiers.

The firm estimates that £74.8bn was spent on rents – both private and social – while £73.2bn was spent on paying mortgages.

Savills also claims that slightly more housing equity – the proportion of a home that is owned rather than mortgaged – is owned by private landlords than owner occupiers: £1,077bn compared with £1,067bn.

Both figures are dwarfed by the £2,097bn of property owned outright.

In other findings, Savills says that an average home was worth £66,110 in 1995 and is today worth £262,847.

It says that today, less than 6% of local government wards have average house prices of under £100,000, compared with 88% in 1995.

By contrast, 66 wards have an average selling price of over £1m, with 53 of those wards in London.

Separate research carried out by Countrywide shows that 25% of the UK’s housing wealth was held by those under 35 last year, compared with a proportion of 35% ten years ago.