National

Rising housing prices push household wealth higher

By AAP Newswire

Dec 21, 2023

‘For Sale’ signs near apartment blocks in Canberra — House prices have continued to grow despite increases in interest rates. -AAP Image

The booming property market and tax return season helped Australia's household wealth tick higher last quarter.

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The nation's collective household wealth hit $15.3 trillion in the September quarter, as captured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in a quarterly report, lifting by $339 billion to be seven per cent higher than a year ago.

Residential homes and land contributed 1.7 percentage points to the 2.3 per cent quarterly growth in wealth.

"Household wealth is supported by house prices which have continued to grow despite increases in interest rates," ABS head of finance statistics Mish Tan said.

After rising interest rates triggered a downturn last year, property markets have been recovering for much of 2023.

National home prices reached a new record high last month based on the home value index from real estate data firm CoreLogic.

Refunds from the tax office also helped push total wealth higher as many stashed the lump sum in deposit accounts.

That's despite the low- and middle-income tax offset, so-called "lamington", wrapping up and leading to smaller returns or even debts for many taxpayers in the 2021/2022 financial year.

Deposits lifted 3.4 per cent over the September quarter, by $52.8 billion.