Younger generations are likely to inherit much more wealth than their predecessors did, according to new IFS research.

The study showed that of those born in the 1970s, 75% have received or expect to receive an inheritance, compared with 61% of those born in the 1950s and less than 40% of those born in the 1930s.

Future inheritances are likely to be highly unequal, the report stated. Even excluding the super-rich (for whom the IFS said it does not have reliable data), the richest half of elderly households held 90% of the wealth and the richest 10% held 40% of the wealth. Hence a ‘lucky half’ of younger generations look likely to get the vast majority of inherited wealth, the IFS said.

The largest inheritances tend to go to those who are already well off, the study said.

Among current pensioners, more than half of those with families well enough off to leave them more than £250,000 in inheritance have lifetime incomes (excluding inheritances) in the top 20% of the population.

According to the study, among younger generations, higher-income individuals are more likely to expect an inheritance. Looking at those born in the 1970s, 9 in 10 of the top-income fifth have received or expect to receive an inheritance, compared with 6 in 10 of the lowest-income fifth.

But both low and high income households in younger generations are more likely to inherit something than their predecessors, the IFS said. The lowest-income fifth of those born in the 1970s were more likely to have received or expect to receive an inheritance than the highest-income fifth of those born in the 1930s.

Andrew Hood, an author of the briefing note and a senior research economist at IFS, said: “The wealth of younger generations looks set to depend more on who their parents are than was the case for older generations. Today’s elderly have much more wealth to leave to their children than their predecessors did, primarily as the result of higher homeownership rates and rising house prices.

“At the same time, today’s young adults will find it harder to accumulate wealth of their own than previous generations did, due to the sharp fall in homeownership for that group, the dramatic decline of defined benefit pensions in the private sector and the stagnation in their incomes.”

Between 2002–03 and 2012–13, the wealth of elderly households (those in which all members are 80 or older) increased by 45%, mostly as a result of higher homeownership and rising house prices.

Some 72% of these households now expect to leave an inheritance, up from 60% a decade ago, with a particularly sharp increase in the proportion expecting to leave a large inheritance.