Households increase financial assets
The average household in Australia is getting wealthier by the year, but the growing wealth has less to do with property investment and more to do with financial assets like superannuation and shares, according to IBISWorld chairman Phil Ruthven.
Ruthven analysed data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and IBISWorld since 1980s and pointed to housing slowly heading to become less than half the value of all assets, while the proportion of durables such as cars, furniture and appliances is shrinking even faster.
"In their place is the growing importance of financial assets, which have climbed from 27.5 per cent of the total in 1989 to 38.3 per cent in 2012," Ruthven said.
"Indeed, financial assets are likely to be more than half of all assets before the middle of this century; our superannuation system is leading this surge," he added.
Superannuation and life made up 21 per cent of households' assets in 2012, according to the Reserve Bank statistical tables and ABS. The same data shows shares made up 6.4 per cent of total assets last year, while deposits and currency were at 9.8 per cent.
At the same time, property investment (other than residential property) comprised 17.6 per cent of total assets.
"Our average wealth (net worth) per household is climbing fast too, and the relative importance of assets is changing," Ruthven said.
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