Tenure and Households in Ireland 2016-2019

Household Finance and Consumption Survey

Assets and Liabilities

This section analyses some results from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey 2018 (HFCS) by tenure and dwelling type.  The HFCS uses an alternative categorisation of household composition, which is not comparable to family unit type as presented in this publication. Therefore, this chapter will focus on tenure type and dwelling type.  The HFCS was carried out between April 2018 and January 2019. 

'Owned outright' properties account for two-thirds of total net wealth among private households

In 2018 the median net wealth value of Irish households was €178,400. The median net wealth value, (defined as gross wealth less debt), is obtained by arranging all households in ascending order from the smallest to the largest value and then selecting the middle value. Therefore, half of all households have a net wealth value less than €178,400.

Households which are 'owned outright' had the highest median net wealth of €333,000 and accounted for two-thirds of the share of total net wealth in private households. The lowest median net wealth was €2,000 in households 'rented from a local authority', and these households accounted for just 0.4% of the share of total net wealth in private households.

Median net wealth was €269,700 in detached houses (59.4% of total net wealth) compared with just €8,300 in an 'apartment/flat/bedsit/other' (2.5%). See Table 5.1.

Detached houses had the highest median of real assests at €287,100 in 2018.

Almost every (95.8%) Irish household had a real asset in 2018 with a median value of €226,300 for those households with a real asset. The highest median by tenure type was €331,900 for households that 'own with a mortgage or a loan', while the lowest median was €3,300 for households 'rented from a local authority'. Looking at dwelling type, the highest median for total real assets was €287,100 for households in a 'detached house' while the lowest was €7,000 in an 'apartment/flat/bedsit/other'. See Figure 5.1.

While nearly all Irish households (95.8%) had any real asset, the lowest proportion by dwelling type was 81.5% for 'apartment, flat, bedsit, other' compared with 99.3% of households in a 'detached house'. The median value of any real asset varied from €7,000 for those in 'apartment, flat, bedsit, other' to €287,100 for households in a 'detached house'.

About seven in ten households had valuables (79.0%), vehicles (78.8%) or a household main residence (68.8%).

The median value for the household main residence was €250,000 in Ireland, with a higher median of €280,000 for households owned with a mortgage compared with €220,000 for households 'owned outright'. The highest median value of a household main residence by dwelling type was €290,000 for households in a 'terraced house' and lowest at €223,600 for those in a 'detached house'.

About seven in ten (68.8%) Irish households were an owned main residence.  This proportion varied from 89.6% for households in detached houses to just 14.4% for those in an 'apartment/flat/bedsit/other'.

Land was held by just 8.9% of households, with a median value of €319,400. Land was owned by 16.5% of households which were 'owned outright', with a median value of €350,200, compared with 5.5% of households that 'own with a mortgage or a loan', where the median value was €285,000.

Other real estate was held by 13.6% of households, with a median value of €240,600. A higher proportion of households that 'own with a mortgage or a loan' (19.0%) had other real estate compared with 14.9% of households 'owned outright'.

Self-employment business wealth was held by 17.7% of households with a median value of €19,300. Around one in four households which were 'owned outright' (23.8%) had self-employment business wealth. More than one in four (29.5%) households in detached houses had self-employment business wealth.

Looking at dwelling types by type of real asset (see Table 5.3), shows that 12.3% of terraced houses had 'Other Real Estate Property' with a median value of €383,200, the highest real asset median value by the dwelling types listed.

Just under 95% of households have financial assets

The median value for financial assets was €7,900 in Irish households in 2018, varying from €12,000 where the household was owned outright to just €800 where it was 'rented from a local authority'. Looking at dwelling type, the highest median for financial assets was €9,900 for households in a 'detached house' compared with €2,700 for households in an 'apartment, flat, bedsit, other'. See Figure 5.2.

More than nine in ten (94.9%) households had a financial asset in 2018.  The main financial asset held was savings (94.6% households), a voluntary pension (15.8%), shares (10.4%) and bonds (10.0%).

The median value of savings in households was €5,000, varying from €7,100 in households 'owned outright' to just €700 where the household was 'rented from a local authority'. More than nine in ten households which were owned (either outright or with a mortgage) or 'rent from a landlord' had savings. However only 77.4% of households rented from a local authority had savings.

The median value of a voluntary pension was €49,600. Nearly three in ten (27.8%) households that 'own with a mortgage or a loan' had a voluntary pension, where the median value was €46,800. The proportion of household tenures 'owned outright' which had a voluntary pension was 15.1% and the median value of this pension was €64,400. Only 8.6% of households that 'rent from a landlord' had a voluntary pension, with a median value of €24,000.

Looking at dwelling type 'Savings' was found to range from 96.7% ('Detached house') to 86.3% ('Apartment/Flat/Bedsit/Other'), with the median values for this particular asset at €5,700 and €2,500 respectively, see Table 5.5.

One in two households in Ireland had debt in 2018

Over half (51.8%) of Irish households had any debt in 2018, with a median value of €45,900 for those who had any debt. The highest median debt was €136,500 for households that 'own with a mortgage or a loan' and all of these households had debt. The lowest median debt was €2,700 for households 'rented from a local authority' and 35.1% of these households had any debt.

Looking at dwelling type, the highest median debt was €60,700 for those in a 'detached house' compared with €4,100 for households in an 'apartment, flat, bedsit, other'.

The main types of debt held by households were a non-mortgage loan (30.4% of households), a mortgage on the HMR (26.1%), credit card (12.7%) or an overdraft (7.9%).

The highest median debt was €174,600 for a mortgage on another property which was held by 13.2% of households.