Report: Australia home to richest people and wealthiest property market
THE average Aussie is sitting on a nest egg of nearly $200K, making us the richest people in the world, a global report says.
Australians have a median wealth per adult of $US194,000, beating out Japan, Italy, Belgium and Britain, according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2012, which surveyed 216 countries.
And it's about to get a whole lot better.
The report forecasts that our 905,000 millionaires will swell to 1.6m over the next five years - a staggering 82 percent increase.
America still has the largest number of millionaires - more than 11million - three times higher than its nearest rival Japan.
With plentiful land, sparse population, natural resources and high home prices, Australia's proportion of individuals with wealth above $100,000 is the most of any country and eight times the world average.
"Notably, Australia's median wealth per adult of US$194,000 is the highest in the world, well ahead of Switzerland at $US87,137 and Norway at $US79,376," the report says.
Wealth per adult on average in Australia was $US355,000, the second highest after Switzerland, despite exchange rate changes and diminishing wealth in Europe.
Very few Australians had a net worth of less than $10,000, reflecting relatively low credit card use and student debt.
Australia's financial standing has been boosted by the strong currency, with most of the wealth held in property assets.
Our wealth is further boosted by the $1.2 trillion superannuation regime.
The report also shows that for the first time Asia-Pacific has overtaken Europe as the world's richest region, with holdings of $US74 trillion.
