Household wealth in Australia keeps rising and the key reason for that is residential property – which accounts for 68 per cent of the total wealth of Australian households.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that total household wealth has reached $16.5 trillion.

Now, that number doesn’t mean much to the average observer, so here are some other numbers that give it some context.

That household wealth figure represented a 1.5 per cent rise in the June quarter and the current level of the highest on record.

It’s 9.3 per cent higher than a year ago, and it means the overall level of household wealth in the nation has increased for seven consecutive quarters, driven primarily by residential land and dwellings.

Dr Mish Tan, head of finance statistics at the ABS, notes that house prices have continued to rise across most states and territories, despite high interest rates, and said this largely reflects ongoing housing supply constraints.Property assets reached an unprecedented level of $11.2 trillion as of 30 June 2024, making up around 68 per cent of household wealth. The surge in household wealth over recent years has largely been attributed to rising property prices.

Households also hold $1.72 trillion in cash and deposits or 10.4 per cent of their total net worth, alongside a record $3.94 trillion in superannuation assets.

Now, one of the ways that residential real estate has pumped up household wealth in the past year or so, is the steady rise in the number of suburbs across Australia with a median price above $1 million.

According to CoreLogic, the number of Australian suburbs with a $1 million median price for either houses or apartments has reached a new record high.

Over the 12 months to September, 218 more suburbs surpassed a $1 million median for houses or apartments. Australia now has 1,257 suburbs with a median house value at or above $1 million, as well as 140 suburbs with a median apartment value at the same level.

And if you want to discover which suburbs are most likely to join the Million Dollar club in the near future, get yourself a copy of our newest report – the national Top 10 Million Dollar Hotspots report.

Hotspotting has published this report in conjunction with multi award winning buyers agency Propertybuyer – and it provides valuable insights into where to buy real estate in locations where the median price is below $1 million, but expected to surpass the milestone figure in the not too distant future.