Wealthy people in Britain have never had it so good. Nervous stock markets and fears that the property boom has peaked have barely registered in the ranks of The Sunday Times Rich List. The combined wealth of the top 1,000 has soared by £59 billion in one year to just under £360 billion. This near 20% rise over 2006 is one of the highest annual increases in wealth we have recorded since our first list was published in 1989.

The past decade of Labour government under Tony Blair has proved a golden age for the rich, rarely seen in modern British history. When the Blair administration came to power in 1997, the wealth of Britain’s richest 1,000 stood at £98.99 billion. The £261 billion rise in the wealth of today’s top 1,000 represents a 263% jump over the past 10 years.

This explosion in Britain, and particularly London, has seen a sharp rise in the number of billionaires in the UK. This year we have 68 against 54 in 2006 and treble the number of four years ago, fuelled by the surge in the number of foreign billionaires enjoying Britain’s favourable tax regime. Only three of our top 10 were born in Britain. Our top two places go to steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, whose wealth has risen by nearly £4.4 billion this year to £19.25 billion, and Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, who remains at £10.8 billion despite funding an expensive divorce.

Britain’s super-rich have seen their wealth grow much faster than in Europe or among the world’s super-wealthy. Eight of The Sunday Times Rich List 1,000 have seen their fortunes increase by more than £1 billion this year and 40 by more than £300m. While the richest 50 in the world are now worth a staggering £611 billion, this is only 8.3% up on a year ago. Similarly Europe’s top 50 have increased their wealth over the past year by a “mere” 14.8%, taking their total to £371 billion.

Property has proved a real winner this year for the super-rich. Britain’s enduring property boom has propelled 221 people into the list (up from 211 a year ago). They are led by the Duke of Westminster, the richest British-born person in the list, who ranks third with a £7 billion fortune. The influx of foreign billionaires into his manor – Mayfair and Belgravia – is helping push up prices and the ducal fortune as a result.

The equally buoyant financial services sector has fed a record 155 entries into this year’s Rich List. City tycoons with vast sums of money under their management have profited from huge bonuses in the past 12 months. Encouragingly, the fall in industrial fortunes over the years has stopped. Indeed, we are seeing a rise of billionaires with fortunes in old industries such as steel, chemicals or copper led by the likes of Mittal and Jim Ratcliffe, boss of Ineos, who breaks into the top 10 with a £3.3 billion valuation.

This year we have been able to raise our threshold for entry to the top 1,000 to £70m on the back of the rising tide of wealth. This is another record and the fourth consecutive year in which we have raised our bottom line by £10m. In our first list in 1989, a £70m fortune meant a position of No 92 in the list of the top 200 we then recorded. In 2007 it takes the £770 fortune of Brian Souter and sister Ann Gloag to achieve the same ranking.

In the regional stakes, no area can match London and the southeast economy for millionaire creation. Of the top 1,000, 534 are from there. But after four years of decline, the number of Scots millionaires has risen from 61 to 65. There is also the first genuine Scots-born billionaire in the shape of Sir Tom Hunter, the retailing and property tycoon who we now value at £1.05 billion despite his prodigious efforts to part with his fortune on the charitable front. In all, our 100 richest Scots, on pages 84-85, are now worth £16.9 billion, a rise of £2.4 billion in a year. The 25 in the top 1,000 from Wales, or Welsh-born, is up by one on last year, though the overall wealth figure is up sharply from £5.6 billion to £6.7 billion.

Ireland’s wealth continues its spectacular ascent. While we keep our Irish list at 250-strong, we have been able to raise the threshold from £24m to £32m. The Irish list, is a unique look at an all-Ireland economy and recognises no borders. The number of Irish billionaires, too, continues to rise with Sean Quinn, the Co Fermanagh-based aggregates-to-insurance tycoon, seeing his wealth rise by more than £1 billion in a year to £3.05 billion. However, Hilary Weston retains top spot with a £4.089 billion family fortune from retailing. In total, the 250 in the Irish list are now worth £44.24 billion, up 26% in a year.

The number of women in the top 1,000 is up by 20% to a record 92 despite the higher entry threshold. Many of the new entries have built up their own businesses; women such as Carole Nash, who carved out a niche insuring motorbikes, and made herself a £70m fortune. Joining our list of the top 100 women is Kate Moss, the model, with a £45m fortune.

The top 100 in the young rich list of those aged 30 and under is still dominated by the worlds of sport, fashion, film and pop. In all, 65 of the top 100 are drawn from these celebrity-obsessed worlds. Real Madrid and soon-to-be Los Angeles Galaxy star David Beckham may no longer qualify for this list on age grounds, but there are still 28 footballers, led by England striker Michael Owen. Motor racing, too, is beginning to make its presence felt.

Accompanying Jenson Button, we have Lewis Hamilton, the new hope for British Formula One, and Dan Wheldon, the king of America’s Indy Car racing circuit.

Our supermodels in the young rich list have a new entrant in the shape of Lily Cole. This takes the number of models this year to 12. But for all the emphasis on glamour and celebrity in the young rich list, we see some exciting young tycoons emerging. The Gower brothers, Andrew and Paul, creators of the online game, Runescape, have seen profits soar at their company, Jagex, which has propelled them into the top 1,000 with a £106m fortune as well as the young rich list. We also expect Mark Fitzgerald and Thomas O’Donohue of MX Telecom to graduate to the main rich list when we see their 2005-06 accounts.

The youngest person on the young rich list remains 17-year-old Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the Harry Potter films, with a £17m fortune, and the only person in any list who was born after we published our first Rich List in 1989.

Next year, when we celebrate our 20th Rich List, Blair will be history and Gordon Brown is likely to be resident in 10 Downing Street. He will have to face some difficult choices over the treatment of the rich who have done so well out of Labour. The first stirrings of a backlash against the rich and the growing gulf between the haves and have-nots have started to surface.

The politics of envy – dormant for much of the past decade as Labour leaders supped with multimillionaires – may be back with a vengeance. It will be interesting to see how Brown handles issues such as the favourable tax regime enjoyed by foreign billionaires resident here. Thus far, as chancellor, he has done next to nothing to tinker with that regime. Backbench pressure in the run-up to an election may force his hand. We will almost certainly feel the effect in a future rich list if some of the foreign-born billionaires who currently grace our pages flee these shores for more congenial pastures.