A new study reveals that Generation X now holds more wealth in property and shares than Baby Boomers, despite the latter still having the highest overall net worth. The shift in wealth is attributed to inheritance and the changing economic landscape.
The financial dominance of Baby Boomers is beginning to fade, with new analysis showing Gen X now has more wealth in property and shares than any other generation. While Boomers still have the highest overall net worth, the average housing wealth of Gen X households has reached $1.31 million, pipping the previous generation’s $1.299 million, according to a KPMG study of Australian Bureau of Statistics wealth and expenditure data.
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley, who conducted the analysis, said the children of Baby Boomers were starting to inherit property.“The older Boomers have, on average, gone past the life expectancy threshold, so we know some of them are dying,” he said. “Their money has got to go somewhere, and it’s starting to end up in the hot little hands of Gen X and Y.” Meanwhile, Millennial and Gen Z households have lower average wealth in housing. Millennial households have a toehold in the property market, with an average of $750,000 in housing – the price of an entry-level apartment in many markets. Gen Z is not yet a propertied generation, with an average of $69,000 in housing. The term Generation X was popularised by the 1991 novel of the same name by American author Douglas Coupland, and was supposed to be shorthand for twentysomethings who didn’t care about money or status, stuck in dead-end jobs in recessionary times. But while that generation railed about the easy economic times they believed their Boomer compatriots had in the 1960s and 1970s, Gen X came of age when buying a property was still a realistic goal. In the 1990s, the average dwelling across Australia was worth about 9.5 times average household income. By 2023, that value had risen to 16.4 times the average wage.Australia’s housing affordability crisis will be a key debate in this year’s federal election, with all parties hoping to persuade voters that they know how to get younger Australians into the market without compromising property value
GENERATION X BABY BOOMERS PROPERTY WEALTH INHERITANCE HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
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