Australia and America store their wealth very differently
More than half of Australian household assets are tied up in housing. In America, the equivalent figure is only one-quarter. The difference reveals two very different household balance sheets.
Australians and Americans are both wealthy by global standards, but they store that wealth very differently.
At the end of 2025, Australian households owned about $22.25 trillion in gross assets. Of that, $12.53 trillion was tied up in land and dwellings.
That means housing accounted for approximately 56% of everything Australian households owned.
The American household balance sheet looks very different.
US households held about US$192.4 trillion of assets, of which US$47.9 trillion was real estate. Housing therefore represented only around 25% of total household assets. The remaining 75% was held outside housing.
The comparison is important because simply comparing houses with directly owned shares understates Australian financial wealth.
Australians held about $4.55 trillion in superannuation reserves at the end of 2025. Those funds ultimately own shares, bonds, infrastructure and other assets. In this comparison, superannuation is therefore included in non-housing wealth rather than being overlooked.
The result is still striking.
More than half of Australian household assets are stored in housing, compared with only one-quarter in the United States.
That has economic consequences.
Australian household wealth is particularly sensitive to house prices, mortgage rates, credit conditions and housing policy. American household wealth is much more heavily concentrated outside residential property and consequently more exposed to financial markets.
The countries have not simply accumulated different amounts of wealth.
They have built very different household balance sheets.
| Share of household assets | Australia | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | 56.3% | 24.9% |
| Non-housing assets | 43.7% | 75.1% |