The median price paid for a home in Dublin 6 rose to almost €800,000 in the third quarter, making it the most expensive district in the State. Photograph: Alan Betson
The good news is we are all loaded. The net wealth of Irish households is nearly €1.3 trillion, averaging about €228,000 each. Most readers won’t find that kind of money in their banking app however, because some €156,000 of this is housing wealth, the bricks and mortar we live in.
There is more good news though. The Irish “Gini coefficient” – the measure of the wealth gap between the richest and the poorest – has reduced significantly since it started in 2013. At 64.6, it sits below the European average of 72.4.
A lot of this reduction, however, is down to growth in property values. When property values rise, it suggests poorer households have more money. Politicians can easily point to this lessening gap as evidence of policy success. But this is nominal wealth.
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