Wealth in Ireland: Remarkable recovery, but no room for complacency

Irish household wealth has more than doubled over the past decade - rising from €573 billion in 2014 to €1.32 trillion in 2024 - and is projected to approach €2.6 trillion by 2035. 

While this represents a remarkable recovery since the Global Financial Crisis, it must be cautioned that much of the increase reflects inflation in the value of people’s homes, rather than the accumulation of a diversified and transactable wealth.  

The rate of accumulation of non-housing wealth, while strong in absolute and relative terms, has lagged the performance of our domestic economy (GNI*). The gap reflects the under-management of financial resources by Irish households, including an under-provision for retirement, and a sluggish growth in the reported value of Irish-owned businesses.

Looking forward, the outlook for Irish wealth is very positive with structural momentum. The number of older households is growing in absolute and relative terms, house supply is expanding and the income basis for house prices is solid. 

There is significant upside potential here if the constraints to the conversion of household employment and enterprise into wealth can be comprehensively addressed.

This analysis is contained in Wealth in Ireland, an in-depth analysis of the changing profile of Irish household wealth.   

Report highlights: 

• Irish households’ net wealth has risen from €573bn in 2014 to €1.32tn in 2024 and is forecast to reach around €2.6tn by 2035, with significant upside potential. 
• Housing was the major contributor to growth, driven by price inflation, with non-housing wealth growing strongly but at a rate lower than the domestic economy.  
• Home ownership underpins Irish wealth dispersion, with the pay-down of post crisis mortgages by less well-off households masking falls in their ownership of stock value. 
• Irish households are saving in line with eurozone peers, with strong growth in net savings (5% CAGR - Compound Annual Growth Rate) and the value of our financial assets (14%) between 2014 and 2024.  
• Our financial resources are, however, not optimised for financial return, owing to some combination of under-management, under-investment and risk aversion.  
• We are not exploiting the opportunity offered by pensions for tax-efficient investing, with private sector workers carrying an estimated pension deficit of €250 bn in 2024. 
• There is evidence of conservatism elsewhere, with growth in the value of the private business assets of Irish households sluggish in a national and eurozone context. 
• Structurally lower levels of capital investment in Irish-owned businesses are a known contributor with international sales of Irish-owned businesses likely also important.  
• We estimate that there are 75,000 wealthy households in Ireland from a total of 1.9 mn. Most households are still working to put the fundamentals of home, emergency funds and pension provision appropriate to their working life stage in place.