Rising house prices leave families with a fortune in bricks and mortar

The equity held by homeowners has climbed by an average of 37 per cent in that time, according to a survey.

In some parts of the country, the rise in the value of these pots of gold was as high as 75 per cent.

The increases mean more than half of all household wealth - 55 per cent - is now related to assets, led by property, rather than savings and pensions.

Equity is defined as the gap between what a property would be worth if sold tomorrow and the outstanding mortgage.

The huge sums tied up in property explain why owners are increasingly treating their house as a bank that can be tapped into when the need arises.

More and more are extending mortgages and taking out secured loans against their homes to fund general living expenses or building work, as well as major purchases such as cars.

A number of older mortgage holders are taking out loans against their property to use as a deposit to allow their children to buy their own home.

They may also use the equity to fill a gap in their income left by failing pension schemes. Industry figures published earlier this week show homeowners released £14.6billion of the wealth locked up in their properties in the final three months of 2006.

That was up by £2.4billion on the previous quarter and £ 3billion on the same period the year before.

A table compiled by the Prudential insurance company and researchers at Datamonitor details how the nation's equity soared between 2004 and 2006.

In the North-East the equity in the average house has increased almost 76 per cent to £102,129.

There has also been a spectacular rise of 70 per cent in Wales, taking the figure to £116,267.

Average equity in Scotland rose by more than £27,000 or 55 per cent over the two years to £78,793, while the figure for Yorkshire and Humberside is put at 50 per cent.

In the East Midlands, equity has soared by 45 per cent while in the neighbouring West Midlands it rose just 25 per cent to £103,772.

Residents in the South-East have the highest average amount of equity in their home, at £210,077 - an increase of £41,570 or 24.6 per cent.

The rise in the East is put at 23 per cent. The increase in London is a relatively modest 18.6 per cent, taking the figure to £169,477. The rise in the North-West was 12 per cent and 10.7 per cent in the South-West.

Ali Crossley, the Pru's director of lifetime mortgages, said: "It is interesting to see how important property has become in constituting our main source of financial wealth."