In the December quarter 2018, the gross personal wealth of Australians, which is inclusive of owner-occupied homes, was $9,784 billion. This is 5 per cent lower than the previous September quarter.

The data, from research house Roy Morgan, also showed net wealth after debt has decreased by 4.3 per cent from $8,993 billion to $8,608 billion.

Still, the average gross household wealth remains just over $1 million, which is the lowest it has been since September 2017.

Per capita, average gross wealth has fallen by 5.4 per cent to $475,000 – the lowest it has been in 12 months.

The lion’s share

The decline in value of owner-occupied homes of 5.2 per cent or $270 billion accounted for over half of the decline in gross personal wealth for the quarter, according to Roy Morgan.

Other major losses were seen with superannuation and pensions/annuities down $93 billion or 3.5 per cent and property investments down $54 billion or 5.4 per cent.

Still, Australians hold most of their wealth in their homes, the research shows.

“Owner-occupied homes remain the mainstay of personal wealth as they still account for half of gross personal wealth in Australia, despite a major drop in total value over the last quarter,” the research said.

“Superannuation accounts for nearly a quarter (24.4 per cent) of total wealth, followed by property investments (9.9 per cent) and deposit and transaction accounts (7.5 per cent),” the research said.