The median net wealth of households that own their own home in Ireland is €303,900 compared to just €5,300 for rented households, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The CSO’s household finance and consumption survey for 2020 found the median or midpoint net wealth value of Irish households is €193,100.
Net wealth is highest in the eastern and midland region of Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Meath, Westmeath, and Wicklow, with a median value of €223,000.
CSO statistician Stephen Lee, who works in the Income, Consumption and Wealth (ICW) Division, said this is “the only household survey that collects combined information on asset, income and debt levels of Irish households.”
“The results show that in Ireland, the wealthiest 10 per cent of all households have a net wealth greater than €788,400 while the bottom 10 per cent have a net wealth of less than €600,” he said.
“Net wealth is calculated as the value of all assets minus debt.
“In 2020, the median net wealth value of Irish households was €193,100. 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.
“In terms of wealth, the median provides a truer reflection of the average household as it is not influenced by extreme values.”
Mr Lee said the value of a household’s main residence “is a key component of wealth.”
“In Ireland, almost 70 per cent of households own their own residence. In 2020, the median value for households’ main residence was €260,000,” he said.
“The median net wealth of households that own their own home is €303,900 while for renters it is considerably less, at €5,300.”
Households in the eastern and midlands region, which includes Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Meath, Westmeath and Wicklow, have the highest median net wealth of €223,000.
This is compared with €181,000 in the southern region (Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford) and €173,300 in the northern and western region (Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon and Sligo).
Assets and savings
The CSO survey also found that 97 per cent of Irish households own some form of financial asset including savings, shares, bonds, investments, and voluntary pensions.
For households that own financial assets, the median value is €13,300.
Almost seven in ten (68 per cent) households have some form of debt including mortgages, loans, credit cards and overdrafts.
The median value of debt, for those households that have debt, is €25,000.
For households that have a mortgage on their home, the median loan to value (LTV) or the ratio of the outstanding amount of the mortgage to the current value of the property is 45.2 per cent.
In 2020, four per cent of all homes owned with a mortgage were in negative equity.
