Australian household wealth fell in the June quarter

Advertisement
ScreenHunter_05 Mar. 12 11.39

By Leith van Onselen

Commsec has released a note summarising the quarterly financial accounts released today by the ABS, which showed that net household financial wealth per capita fell from $76,748 to $75,509 in the June quarter, although it was up by 12.4% over the past year (see next chart).

ScreenHunter_11 Sep. 26 13.19

According to Commsec, households held 22.2% of assets in cash or deposits in the June quarter, which was well above the decade average of 20%, but also below longer-term norms. Similarly, pension funds held 15.3% of assets in cash and deposits, above the long-term average of 8.8% (see below charts).

Advertisement
ScreenHunter_12 Sep. 26 14.29
ScreenHunter_13 Sep. 26 14.31

Commsec estimates that household wealth may have risen by up to 10% over the current quarter on the back of the rising sharemarket.

Advertisement
About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.