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Spread of NZ wealth unchanged since 2015

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Tamaki Makaurau – There has been no significant change in the distribution of wealth between 2015 and 201, Stats NZ says in a survey report today.

Net worth is the value of a household’s assets, such as real estate, retirement savings, and shares, less its debts, such as mortgages, credit card debt, and student loans.

The median net worth of New Zealand households in 2021 was estimated at $397,000 ‐ an increase of 21 percent from the last survey in 2018 and an increase of 39 percent since the first survey of its type in 2015

Median net worth indicates the level where half of all households have more and half less than this net worth.

The top 10 percent of New Zealand households continues to hold  about 50 percent of New Zealand’s total household net worth, as they did in 2015.

The findings are based on the results from a survey of over 4400 households carried out between August 2020 and June 2021.

The increase in net worth was largely driven by an increase in the value of owner-occupied homes, other real estate, and property held in family trusts.

Household net worth continued to be concentrated in the top 20 percent of households, which held about 69 percent of total household net worth.

For every $100 of property owned by New Zealand households, including those held in family trusts, they owe $25 in real estate loans.

Individual net worth typically increases with age until retirement. Young people, 15 to 24 years, had the lowest median individual net worth, $3000, while people in the traditional retirement ages 65 to 74 years had the highest $433,000.

Median individual net worth of caucasian Kiwis was the highest at $151,000. Māori had a median net worth of $42,000, even after adjusting for their younger age profile.

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