Household Wealth

Hotspotting

The latest government data shows that household wealth in Australia continues to rise and residential property is the main reason for that.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown that the wealth of Australian households has risen for a sixth consecutive quarter, with residential land and house prices the largest contributor.

The ABS figures indicate that household wealth on average increased 2.7 per cent in the March Quarter.

In raw numbers, our collective wealth increased by $431 billion - to reach over $16 trillion.

Those numbers are probably meaningless to most people – but the total wealth of Australian households is now 10 per cent higher than it was a year ago.

Residential land and dwellings were the largest contributors to quarterly growth in household wealth.

And the ABS figures show that, overall, residential property accounts for two-thirds of our wealth.

Dr Mish Tan, who is the ABS head of finance statistics, says that “Rising asset values continue to drive growth in household wealth, with house prices continuing to increase.”

Other ABS data shows ongoing growth in loans for the purchase of residential real estate.

And the growth in lending to buy property is occurring both for owner-occupiers, including first-home buyers, and for investors.

The figures emphasise just how important residential property is in the economic life of the nation and how the ongoing growth in property values underpins the financial fortunes of most Australian households.