Millionaires in the thousands

Rising house prices means the number of millionaires will triple this decade, a report claims today.

The predicted rise in housing wealth - the difference between the value of a person's home and the amount borrowed - means that by 2010 there will be 760,000 millionaires. In 2001 there were 230,000.

The report, to be published in full next Monday, predicts that by 2020 the number of millionaires will rise to 1.9million.

Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: 'Millionaires will be ten a penny by 2010. I think we will no longer be able to class millionaires as rich people. They won't be that unusual any more.'

It means many older people will be able to live a luxurious lifestyle, planning a trip of a lifetime, cruises or buying second homes in the sun.

The report finds the average homeowner retiring in 1990 had £62,055 of housing wealth, while somebody retiring in 2000 had £76,505.

It is thought that this will rise to £161,113 by 2010 and £246,705 for a homeowner retiring in 2020.