It's been revealed that Australian households have lost 36 per cent of their financial wealth since the economic crisis began.
Estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics put combined household wealth at just short of $787 billion at the end of March, down from a peak of $1,246 billion in September 2007, Fairfax newspapers report.
The total includes household wealth held in cash, bank deposits, bonds and shares. Significantly it excludes wealth held in the form of superannuation and real estate, and both of these have also dived since the crisis began.
Financial wealth per household as measured by the Australian Financial Accounts has slid from $159,000 to $98,000 - its lowest point for more than three years. Per person it has slipped from $58,900 to $36,200.
"It's the result of the collapsing sharemarket," said Savanth Sebastian, a Commonwealth Securities economist. "Australians are more exposed to shares than the citizens of virtually any other country.
AAP
