Soaring house prices in the UK mean that one in every 76 Britons is now a millionaire, up from one in 84 last year.

There are currently 625,000 millionaires in Britain, the highest level on record, with the number of people worth £1m having risen by 44,000 (7.6pc) in the past 12 months.

Nearly half (295,000) of the millionaires live in London and the South East, where property prices are higher than the rest of the country.

The North East is the region with the fewest millionaires, with just 12,000 people worth at least £1m in the area, according to a report by Barclays Wealth, which produces an annual UK prosperity map to rank regions and cities according to their levels of affluence

Wales and Northern Ireland each have 12,500 millionaires while Scotland is home to 30,500, the report found.