Australian household wealth soars off the back of house price growth
Australia's net wealth rose by $125.3bn, new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.
Overall, households are now worth $17.3 trillion.
This was in part driven by house price rises, which were up 0.7 per cent in the 2025 March quarter.
While house prices have risen for eight consecutive quarters, year-on-year growth has slowed to 4.2 per cent from 8.0 per cent in March 2024.
At the same time, household borrowing grew by 1.4 per cent, or $42.4bn, reducing the overall growth in household wealth by 0.2 percentage points.
The demand for credit was up $136.1bn in the March quarter, including $25.9bn in household borrowing, $45.9bn in private non-financial corporation borrowing and $45.5bn in government credit.
ABS head of finance statistics Mish Tan said the growth in credit was likely to continue.
'The RBA's cash rate cut in February this year was the first easing of interest rates since November 2020, giving some relief to household budgets in the March quarter through lower mortgage interest payments,' Dr Tan said.
'We expect to see the broader impact of recent cuts, including another in May, on house prices and credit growth later this year.'
The May interest rate cuts will be included in next quarter's figures.
Household deposits rose 1.7 per cent ($29.5bn) in the March quarter, contributing 0.3 percentage points to the overall rise in household wealth.
Superannuation assets fell 0.4 per cent, or $16.4bn, reducing the overall growth in household wealth by 0.1 percentage point. The fall was driven by slowing domestic and overseas equity markets.
'Household superannuation balances fell for the first time since the September quarter 2022, as global uncertainty weighed on share prices,' Dr Tan said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
The move that has killed off Friday night drinks
Gather round, young workers. Let me tell you a story of what work was like in the olden days. It might sound strange, but once upon a time people across the city would descend upon a central location at the same time, toiling away from Monday to Friday in a common space together. Then, on the final afternoon of the last workday, a small ritual would occur in many workplaces. In some of them, platters laden with 'chips and dips' would materialise on a large table near the kitchen. In others, a drinks cart would be wheeled between cubicles, offering cold drinks to weary workers. And, more often than not, a colleague would appear at your desk to invite you to the pub to digest the week's events and swap upcoming plans for the weekend. These historic vignettes are not from decades in the past, you only need to rewind your memory back to 2019 to remember them. For countless generations, workers celebrated the end of the week by heading to the local watering hole. Today, however, thanks in part to changing ways of working, WFH is killing Friday night drinks. Loading According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 40 per cent of Australian employees now spend some of their week under hybrid arrangements, and it's caused a drastic change to how we socialise. The most common days to be in the office? Tuesday to Thursday. And the most likely days to work from home? Mondays and Fridays. But it's not all the fault of WFH, as there's a perfect storm of trends that has led us to this moment. The first is a long-term shift of younger Australians away from alcohol.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
Algal bloom recreational fishing response includes plans for artificial reef and reservoirs
A new artificial reef will be created off the South Australian coast to help the state's recreational fishing sector battle the ongoing impacts of the algal bloom "disaster", the state government says. The government said it was also looking to open more of the state's reservoirs for freshwater fishing "where consistent with public health advice", and boost fish stocks in reservoirs and lakes to take pressure off the marine environment. The bloom is devastating some of the state's commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as hitting parts of the economy that rely on them, such as regional tourism. The government today unveiled measures to support recreational fishers, with short-term funding of $200,000 for Recfish SA to bolster community participation initiatives, such as fishing lessons and competitions. Recfish SA's executive officer Asher Dezsery said fishing and tackle shops were desperately in need of stimulus. "They've had sales collapse by up to 70 per cent so they really need not handouts but feet through the door, they need boots on the ground, they need customers," Mr Dezsery said. The funding forms part of the state and federal governments' $28 million support package, with $300,000 to be spent on installing an artificial reef somewhere in Gulf St Vincent. "The idea of re-establishing reefs as soon as we see this bloom pass is a really important one," SA Environment Minister Susan Close said. "The faster we can help nature restore, the faster we can accelerate that recovery, the faster we'll all be able to move past the experience of this bloom and also make ourselves more resilient in the event that it returns." SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said recreational fishers were feeling the economic effects of the bloom — which he described as a "natural disaster" — even in regions that had avoided environmental impact. "The algal bloom has impacted around about 27 per cent of our coastline, which means 73 per cent of our coastline remains completely unaffected," Mr Malinauskas said. "There are whole regional communities that are underpinned by recreational fishers who book an Airbnb and go to the pub and go to the cafe and restaurant, buy equipment from the local fishing tackle shop. South Australia has several artificial reefs, and it is understood a precise location for the new one has not yet been decided. Recfish SA has strongly backed the proposal, and the government believes it will boost fish stocks and allow "real-time monitoring" of the environment by researchers and citizen scientists. "We know that artificial reefs, from interstate projects, 100 per cent assist fish stocks in recovering. They also create biodiversity," Mr Dezsery said. According to the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, recreational fishing is already permitted in several of the state's reservoirs. Recfish SA said the government was looking to expand that further, including in regional areas. "Wherever there's water, wherever there's reservoirs, council stormwater catchments — any body of water, we're trying to create freshwater fishing opportunities so people can keep fishing without putting pressure on that marine environment." Speaking before the announcement, SA Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said that what had been offered to recreational fishers so far had been "completely inadequate", and he issued his own call for reservoir fishing. "There are a number of things that the government could be doing to help the recreational fishing space — one of them, for example, is the government could be doing things like stocking fish and allowing some of our reservoirs, where it's safe to be done, to be fished in," Mr Tarzia said. "That would add significant value in the recreational space." Mr Tarzia has also suggested tourism vouchers, like those that were made available in the wake of the 2023 River Murray floods, could be handed out to encourage regional travel. "Any sort of stimulus that could be allowed for that sort of area would certainly be welcome."
The Australian
6 hours ago
- The Australian
AFCA complaints handling hurry leaves thousands exposed
Thousands of decisions by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority could be called into question because it has resorted to checking its own homework to process a backlog of claims. AFCA insiders are concerned that the organisation is drifting from its promise to apply a high standard of scrutiny to complaints. Instead, it has resorted to allegedly misrepresenting that a fresh set of eyes had ruled on matters when they had not, sources told The Australian. Where an AFCA ombudsman would rule on complaints at the final stage, these were routinely overseen by more junior case managers. The involvement of the ombudsman was allegedly limited to signing off on their recommendations. This is despite AFCA's assurance that decisions would be subject to review where either party to a complaint disagreed with the preliminary ruling. AFCA, assembled in the wake of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation, and Financial Services Industry, is designed to keep disputes from clogging up the court system and free-up regulators to pursue more egregious misconduct. In its first six months, AFCA received 34,263 complaints. Between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, the latest period for which data is available, it was handed 98,622 matters. Of these, 41,583 were related to bank behaviour. AFCA insiders told The Australian it has resorted to 'quick and dirty' decision making in a bid to shift its backlog of claims, warning it put the outcomes of thousands of matters at risk. It's process boils down to a two-tiered arrangement. Matters are initially allocated to a case manager, who attempts to resolve the complaint by mutual agreement. If this fails, the complaint progresses to a second stage where a case manager assesses the merits of the case. The matter proceeds to an ombudsman if a party refuses to accept the case manager's finding. But poor resourcing meant ombudsman matters were often being sent back to the initial staffers, leaving the ombudsman to sign-off on their thinking. This may be as little as a 'quick glance'. 'There were often times where instructions were given to not send out decisions by ombudsman because it looked like it was too quick,' a former AFCA staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, recalled. AFCA was pinged for weak processes in the 2022 NSW Supreme Court Notesco case, which saw a third party broker sue the body alleging it had acted without impartiality when awarding a decision to Jean Pasquier, a retired 83-year old living in France who lost €306,900 ($545,724) after making thousands of trades on Nextrade. AFCA staffer May Chng had sought the view of her manager, who in turn consulted ombudsman Nicolas Crowhurst, before issuing a decision in Mr Pasquier's favour. When Notesco contested the decision, it was sent to Mr Crowhurst to rule on, again in Mr Pasquier's favour. Following this, AFCA engaged former Federal Court judge Julie Dodds-Streeton and barrister Ahmed Terzic to review 30 decisions. AFCA deputy chief ombudsman Dr June Smith said the dispute's body had reviewed the Notesco decision. 'Steps were then taken to ensure that a final decision maker is not involved in the early investigation stage of a complaint they will determine,' she said. Dr Smith said AFCA had commissioned regular independent audits and its next review is slated for 2026 or 2027. 'These reviews have all found that AFCA is engaging in procedural and substantive fairness, and is meeting its obligations of independence and impartiality,' she said. 'These consistent results should give consumers and industry full confidence that AFCA interprets and applies its fairness jurisdiction appropriately and in accordance with its remit.' Resolving cases at AFCA has proven costly as it hires more staff in a bid to catch up to a spiralling case load. Parties before AFCA are slugged for each case, starting at $105.81 for a matter to be registered and up to $10,234 for a final decision. As revealed in The Australian, AFCA has been warning many complainants it would take up to six months to assign them case managers. AFCA chief executive and lead ombudsman David Locke told The Australian in February he was 'mortified' over the delays. AFCA has also been hampered by financial institutions poaching from its ranks, with ANZ recruiting its former banking lead Evelyn Hall as 'customer fairness advisor' in March 2022. David Ross is a Sydney-based journalist at The Australian. He previously worked at the European Parliament and as a freelance journalist, writing for many publications including Myanmar Business Today where he was an Australian correspondent. He has a Masters in Journalism from The University of Melbourne. Markets With the ASX trading near record highs despite subdued earnings forecasts, this reporting season will show whether investors are paying too much for a recovery that may not materialise. DataRoom Executives from Canada's largest mining company have been spotted at Bellevue Gold's flagship Western Australian project, fuelling takeover bid speculation.
