Pensioners' property 'worth almost £770bn' Scottish pensioners, 282,000 of whom own their home outright, saw their housing wealth rise by an average of more than £3,000. Among their Welsh counterparts, who number 265,000, the average increase was £972. Dean Mirfin, a director of Key Retirement Solutions, said: "The rise in pensioner property equity is very welcome after two quarters of decline. Despite the differences across the country, the essential fact remains that pensioners are literally sitting on a major asset. Whatever the trend in the housing market, over-65s own considerable property wealth, which represents a massive investment success, as they no longer have mortgages on homes they may have bought more than 25 years ago. The survey coincides with attempts by Labour to deprive better-off pensioners of some state benefits. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said the richest 5pc of pensioners - those who pay the higher or top rate of tax - would be stripped of their winter fuel allowance if Labour won the next election. He said they might also lose their free television licences, but not their free bus passes. Recent research by academics at the London School of Economics found that the over-55s accounted for most of Britain's 2.5 million "millionaire households," having benefited in particular from rising house prices. Will Hutton of the Work Foundation and a "baby boomer" himself has said: "Having enjoyed a life of free love, free school meals, free universities, defined benefit pensions, mainly full employment and a 40-year-long housing boom, [the baby boomers] are bequeathing their children sky-high house prices, debts and shrivelled pensions. A 60-year-old today is a very privileged and lucky human being. Robert Gardner, the chief economist at Nationwide, said recently: "The baby boomer generation benefited from significant house price rises - in some cases over 100pc in real terms. Housing was also more affordable during the mid Seventies and the Eighties, with a much lower house-price-to-earnings ratio than today.