Household Finance and Consumption Survey 2018

Net Wealth Thresholds

Households with a wealth value greater than €756,000 belong to the wealthiest 10% of all households (the top net wealth decile). Households in the bottom 10% of the net wealth distribution have a net wealth value less than €100 (see Table 5.1).

As wealth is typically accrued over life, it is not surprising that households with older household members are wealthier than younger households. The median net wealth of households where the reference person is 65 or older is €253,300 but where the reference person is younger than 35, this falls to €10,900 (see Table 5.2).

Almost seven out of every ten households (69.7%) where the reference person is 65 or older have a net wealth value greater than the national median value (i.e. they are in the top 50% of net wealth). This contrasts with households where the reference person is younger than 35 as just over one out of every ten (13.3%) are in the top 50% of net wealth households (see Figure 5.2).

One in ten (10.2%) households in the first decile said they had ever received a substantial gift or inheritance, compared to about 67% of households in the top decile.

Property and another substantial asset were received by 6.8% of households in the top decile, an additional 31.8% received property only and 28.0% received a substantial asset that was not property (e.g. money), (see Figure 5.3).

In 2018, 16.5% of households in the first net wealth decile were owner occupied, compared to almost 80% in 2013. This large change is due to the increase in residential property prices over this time and the consequent movement of people out of negative equity. In 2013, 31.9% of all HMRs owned with a mortgage were in negative equity, whereas the 2018 rate is 6.7%. In 2013, just over three in four (75.8%) households in the bottom wealth decile were in negative equity, compared to 12.0% in 2018 (see Figure 5.4).  

Please note that there is a break in time-series between the 2013 and 2018 rounds of the HFCS so data points between the two rounds are generally not comparable. Even so, the large variation in estimates between 2013 and 2018 in the above analysis in particular ensure that the conclusions made can be considered valid. 

Figure 5.5 shows the distribution of households across the net wealth deciles by degree of urbanisation.  All else being equal, the three distributions would be the straight line (line of equal distribution) at 10%.

Households located in densely populated areas (see background notes for the definition) have the highest percentage of both wealthy and poor households (i.e. households in the top and bottom net wealth deciles). Intermediate populated areas have the lowest percentage (5.6%) of households in the top (wealthiest) decile and are over-represented in the bottom 50% of the net wealth distribution.  Thinly populated areas have the lowest percentage of households in the bottom three net wealth deciles (7.7%, 7.1% and 7.7% respectively) and are over-represented in the middle of the distribution.

The average (mean) gross wealth for households in the bottom decile is just under €53,700 compared to €1,900,000 in the top decile. The HMR accounts for 27.0% of the total gross wealth held by households in the top decile. Households in the top decile also have relatively high wealth contributions from land (18.0%), other property (16.9%) and financial assets (19.7%). Looking at the combined contribution of the HMR and other real estate to total wealth, in the top decile the contribution is 43.9%, whereas in deciles four, five, six and seven it exceeds 80% (see Figure 5.6).