Australian wealth statistics: net worth, assets and the wealth gap

Average (mean) household net worth was approximately $1.58 million in 2024, up from $530,000 in 2004. The median tells a different story: the latest detailed survey recorded median household net worth at $579,200 in 2019–20, less than 40% of the 2024 average. The gap between the mean and median shows how concentrated wealth is at the top of the distribution.

Household net worth is the value of everything a household owns, including property, superannuation, investments, vehicles and contents, minus what it owes, such as mortgages and personal debts.

Because the mean is pulled upward by a smaller number of very wealthy households, the median shows the midpoint of the household wealth distribution.

That gap is not new. When both figures were last measured together in 2019–20, average household net worth was $1.04 million, while the median was $579,200. By 2024, the average had risen to $1.58 million.

The 2024 median cannot be measured directly without updated survey data, but the gap may have widened since then. Post-2020 wealth gains were driven largely by rising property values and financial asset prices, which mainly benefited households that already owned assets.

Growth has also been uneven over time. Average household net worth rose from $530,000 in 2004 to around $1.1 million by 2019, with only a brief setback during the 2008–09 global financial crisis. After 2020, growth accelerated. In four years, average net worth increased by approximately $440,000, driven by low interest rates, rising property values and higher financial asset returns.

Using the 2019–20 ABS Survey of Income and Housing, the wealth Gini coefficient was 0.611, compared with an income Gini of 0.324. A Gini score of 0 means perfect equality, while 1 means all wealth is held by one household.

Australia's wealth Gini is almost double its income Gini, showing that wealth is distributed far less evenly than income. This reflects the way assets such as property, superannuation and investments accumulate over time, while income is spread more broadly through wages and salaries.

Of all new wealth generated in Australia since 2003, approximately 45% has flowed to the top 10% of households. That growth came mainly through rising asset values, especially property, alongside tax settings that provide concessions for some capital gains and investment losses.

Between 1999 and 2024, Australian house prices rose by approximately 142% in real terms, while wages grew by around 44%. Property prices grew more than three times faster than wages, increasing the value of existing housing assets and widening the gap between house prices and earnings.

Those gains have not been spread evenly. The top 20% of households hold approximately 73% of net land wealth nationally, while the bottom 40% collectively hold negative net land wealth. This means their outstanding mortgage debt is higher than the current land value they own.

Renters have faced different pressures. Real rents have risen by approximately 50% over two decades, without the wealth-building effect that can come from owning property.

Tax settings also shape the divide between asset owners and non-owners. The 50% capital gains tax discount reduces the taxable portion of gains on assets held for more than 12 months. Negative gearing allows investment property losses to be offset against other taxable income when rental costs exceed rental income.

Around 82% of the total financial benefit from the capital gains tax discount flows to the top 10% of taxpayers. More than 2,500 investors hold 10 or more rental properties each, collectively controlling more than 33,000 dwellings.

Much of older households' wealth is held in mortgage-free property. On average, households aged 65 and over hold approximately $734,000 in fully paid-off net land wealth, built up over decades of property ownership and price growth.

Property is a major driver of the age-based wealth divide. In 1999, the median house price was roughly 4.4 times median income. By 2024, it had risen to approximately 8.6 times. This means the main wealth-building asset of the past 25 years has become harder for younger households to access.

For younger households on average wages in major cities, higher price-to-income ratios indicate greater barriers to entering the property market. Households that remain outside the property market may continue facing rental costs without building housing equity.