New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the median net wealth value of Irish households was €256,900 in 2023.
This marked an increase of €58,500 or 29% on the 2020 value of €198,400.
Net wealth is the value of any assets owned minus the value of any debt and the median value is obtained by arranging all households in ascending order from the smallest to the largest value and then selecting the middle value.
The CSO said that property is the main source of wealth with 46% of gross wealth coming from the value of the main residence.
Today’s figures show that 68% of households owned their main residence in 2023 with a median value of €340,000, up €80,000 or 30.8% from the €260,000 median value in 2020.
The median net wealth for households that own their main residence was €391,600 in 2023 compared with €10,200 for those who rent or those living rent free.
To be in the top 10% of households, a net household wealth of about €1,024,000 is needed. The CSO said this threshold was up from €838,000 in 2020 and is the highest ever recorded in this survey which began in 2015.
The bottom 10% of households had less than €2,400 in household net wealth in 2023, the CSO said. This threshold was up from €1,300 in 2020.
Today’s figures show that the Eastern & Midland region (Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath and Laois) had the highest median net wealth at €264,400.
This was followed by the Southern region (Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Cork and Kerry) at €251,700 and the Northern & Western region (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon) at €239,000.
The CSO said this was mainly driven by higher house prices in the Eastern & Midland region which includes Dublin and its commuter counties.
Meanwhile, 66% of households had some form of debt in 2023 such as a mortgage, personal loan, or credit card balance. This was down from 69% in 2020. The median value of debt, for those that had it, was €34,600, up from €25,000 in 2020.
