Household wealth booms with houses

From COMMSEC comes a wrap of the national financial accounts:

 

Total household wealth (net worth) stood at a record $7,531.8 billion at the end of December, up $253.7 billion
over the quarter – the biggest quarterly rise in four years. In per capita terms, wealth rose to a record $322,757 in
the December quarter, up $9,529 over the quarter.

• In real terms, the value of land and dwellings rose by $126.1 billion in the December quarter while financial assets rose by $29.4 billion. Overall, real net wealth rose by $172.7 billion in the quarter. And net saving plus real wealth rose by $200.1 billion in the quarter, the biggest gain since December quarter 2009.
• Households held a record $830.9 billion in cash and deposits at the end of December. Cash and deposit holdings represented 22.1 per cent of financial assets, above the decade average of 20 per cent.
• Pension fund (superannuation fund) assets rose by $59.5 billion to $1649.3 billion in the December quarter.
• Cash and deposits stood at 14.5 per cent of financial assets, still well above the long-term average of 8.8 per cent.
• Foreign holdings of Australian shares rose by $9.2 billion in the December quarter to a record $658.0 billion.
• Foreigners held 43.2 per cent of Australian listed shares at the end of December, down from 44.1 per cent in the September quarter and down from the 20 year high of 46.8 per cent reached in the June quarter 2012.
• Listed shares accounted for 17.0 per cent of assets in the December quarter, down from 17.1 per cent in the September quarter and below the long-term average of 18.8 per cent.