Credit crunch costs Britons £40,000 each
£1.9 trillion of UK household wealth wiped out since July 2007
A 28% drop in wealth held in housing and equities has erased £1.9 trillion of
UK household wealth since the beginning of the credit crunch in July 2007,
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates.
This works out to around £40,000 per adult, according to PwC, although it
concedes that this estimate of loss would vary “considerably” across the UK
population.
In total, a staggering 130% of Britain’s GDP has been wiped out. PwC
estimates that this could ultimately reduce UK expenditure by up to £45bn, or 3%
of GDP.
The losses comprised a 20% drop in house prices, totalling £800bn, with the
£1.1 trillion that has been subtracted from the stock market since mid-2007.
Further reading:
Deloitte’s
global CEO warns against protectionism
PwC:
extra tax rises needed to narrow UK fiscal gap
Quantitative
easing: What is it? And will it work?