One in 10 UK adults, or 5.2 million people, own a second home, while four in 10 adults own no property at all, according to new research that highlights the stark divide in wealth that Britain now faces.

The number of people who do not own property has also risen over the past 12 years, according to the Resolution Foundation.

Housing campaigners have said the figures “lay bare the stark inequalities” of the UK’s housing crisis and should come as a “wake-up call”.

The proportion of adults owning multiple properties has jumped by 30% since 2000, according to the thinktank.

The analysis of data from sources including the Office for National Statistics found that half of these second homes are owned by wealthy baby boomers – defined in the research as those born between 1946 and 1965 – most of whom live in southern England.

Another quarter are owned by the generation after them, those born between 1966 and 1980, who are known as Generation X.

Millennials – those born since 1981 – own just 3% of second properties, the research found.

Dan Wilson Craw, interim director of campaign group Generation Rent, said the findings should be a “wake-up call”.



“It really reinforces the picture of today’s economy where so many people, particularly in young generations, are unable to buy their own home and are finding it really hard to save up in the first place,” he told the Guardian. “The fact there are increasing numbers of people are buying second homes just adds up to even greater inequality in wealth.

“For anyone who wants to preserve the economic system we have, it should be a wake-up call to them.”

Last year, the then chancellor, George Osborne, imposed a sharp rise in stamp duty for those buying second homes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Changes were also made in Scotland, where stamp duty has been abolished, to mirror the rest of the UK.



The government collected almost £2bn from stamp duty in the first three months of 2017, provisional figures released by HMRC in April show. That was 16% higher than the amount collected in the same quarter in 2016, due to the additional £454m generated by the 3% surcharge for investors and second-home buyers.

Wilson Craw said: “This revenue could be used to build tens of thousands of homes a year, which would be quite a significant boost to house building. It’s something we are calling on the government to do with the annual windfall that stamp duty provides.”

He added that older generations “take for granted” being able to get on the property ladder.

The Resolution Foundation’s analysis found that alongside an increase in the number of people with additional property, the average value of assets held in these properties has grown by 20% in real terms between 2000-02 and 2012-14.

Laura Gardiner, a senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said second-home owners tended to be baby boomers living in the south and east of England, who were very wealthy compared with their peers.



She said: “Multiple property ownership is still a minority sport, but a growing one that represents a significant boost to the wealth pots of those lucky enough to own second homes.

“People with second homes not only have an investment that they can turn to in times of need, for instance in later life when care is required, but if the property is rented out, they also see a boost to their incomes here and now.”

Given that young people were much less likely to own a home than their predecessors at the same age, Gardiner said the growing concentration of property wealth among fewer families raised concerns about wealth inequality for the UK as a whole.

Anne Baxendale, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: “At a time when buying a first home is a pipe dream for many, councils should not be incentivising owners of second homes by offering a reduced rate on council tax.



“By doing so, they encourage second-home owners to hoard the homes which are so desperately needed by aspiring first-time buyers, stuck in expensive and insecure private renting.”

Alistair Smyth, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said the findings exposed the stark inequalities of the housing crisis: “Building homes is the only fix for our failing housing market.”