- Household wealth increased by 5.8% during the June quarter
- This takes wealth to a record $13.4 trillion
- Deposit accounts also increased during the quarter to $2.7 trillion
Household wealth hit another record high across Australia during the June quarter, with house price growth fuelling the drive, according to data recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Household wealth increased by 5.8% – or $735 billion – reaching $13.43 trillion.
Household wealth per capita is now $522,032 – also a record.
Residential property assets contributed 4.5% to the growth, with superannuation and directly held shares contributing 1.1% and 0.3% respectively.
“Growth in household wealth continued to be driven by residential property prices, which recorded the strongest quarterly growth on record (+6.7%),” explained head of Finance and Wealth at the ABS, Katherine Keenan.
“The strong property price growth reflected record low interest rates, rising consumer confidence and demand being greater than the levels of housing stock on the market.”
Katherine Keenan, Head of Finance and Wealth
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has seen its deposit assets increase to $341.8 billion, as the RBA injected further liquidity into the financial system. This injection resulted in $26 billion of quarterly growth towards bank loans assets.
“Growth in owner occupier loan balances was the strongest in 5 years and consistent with ABS seasonally adjusted owner occupied loan commitments data, which reached new highs over the first 6 months of 2021.”
Mixed bag for deposits
Deposit accounts increased by $45.1 billion (1.7%) to $2.7 trillion, the equivalent of just over $100,000 per person in the country.
Private non-financial corporations drove this increase for the first time since the pandemic began.
Businesses kept their level of deposits steady in April and May, but increases were recorded in June as lockdowns began initially in New South Wales.
The increase in deposits witnessed by households was at its weakest since the June quarter of 2019 due to increased household spending. This may have been due to there being fewer lockdowns in the June quarter nationally compared to previous quarters.
