Australian household wealth soars off the back of house price growth

Australians have added more than $125bn to their household wealth in just the first quarter of 2025 thanks to one thing.

Australia’s household wealth has surged again in the March quarter off the back of rising house and land prices.

Australia’s net wealth rose by $125.3bn, new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.

Overall, households are now worth $17.3 trillion.

Australian household wealth has ballooned on the back of strong property price growth. Picture: NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

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.”

Superannuation fell, negatively impacting household wealth. Picture:NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

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.

Originally published as Australian household wealth soars off the back of house price growth