Home values make Australian millionaires

Australian investors with more than $1 million in net wealth are likely to have a passive income source, according to research undertaken by Finder.

Finder’s Wealth Building Report 2024 has identified that there are roughly 2.8 million people in Australia who could be deemed to be millionaires but a lot of that wealth is tied up in their homes.

Finder said it commissioned a survey of 1,008 Australians who are actively increasing their wealth through investments in various assets.

“Astonishingly, 1 in 8 Australians (13%) – roughly 2.8 million people – are millionaires, one of the highest proportions globally, with that figure expected to rise sharply over the next 5 years,” the company said.

However, it noted that many of these millionaires have landed in this once-elusive club simply because the value of their homes has grown.

“The number of millionaires drops to 1.1 million (5% of Australian adults) when the value of the principal place of residence is removed from net wealth calculations.,” it said.

Finder’s report reveals investors credited budgeting (38%) and investing frequently (12%) as the top two habits they implemented to accumulate their wealth.

Nearly 1 in 10 (9%) of those who are making money from investments said paying off debt contributed the most to boosting their net wealth.

The report said Australian investors with more than $1 million in net wealth are much more likely to have at least one passive income source. An impressive 85% of investors with more than $1 million earn interest on their savings compared to just 48% of non-investing Australians.

More than half (58%) of investors expect their net wealth to improve over the next 12 months.