The number of people in the UK with investable assets of at least £500,000 is set to increase 64 per cent by 2016, according to research.

The number of people in the UK with investable assets of at least £500,000 is set to increase 64 per cent by 2016, according to research from Bristol Business School.

There are currently an estimated 571,200 “demi-millionaires” in the UK, a number set to rise to 936,200 over the next seven years, the study states.

A still faster increase is predicted in the number of households with financial wealth of £349,000 or more (excluding the value of property). Some 207,400 a year of these high net worth households are expected to be created until 2016.

Professor Merlin Stone, who authored the report, comments, ‘Although the growth in the number of wealthy individuals will slow or even fall as a result of the current financial crisis, [in the] long-term I expect it to grow.’