CANBERRA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Household wealth in Australia grew by 0.9 percent, or 143.6 billion Australian dollars (90.67 billion U.S. dollars), in the December quarter of 2024, marking the lowest growth since the September quarter of 2022, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday.

Total household wealth reached 17 trillion Australian dollars in the December quarter, up 6.6 percent from the previous year, said Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics.

However, declining house prices have slowed growth. The value of residential land and dwellings rose by 0.2 percent in the quarter, contributing just 0.1 percentage points to overall wealth growth, Tan said, adding annual growth in residential property values in the year to December 2024 slowed to 4.4 percent, down from 8.1 percent in 2023.

Household deposits increased by 3.2 percent, or 55.7 billion Australian dollars in the December quarter, adding 0.3 percentage points to total wealth. However, deposit growth was weaker than in September due to holiday spending and smaller tax refunds, statistics show.

Government cost-of-living relief, including energy rebates and upcoming tax cuts, helped sustain deposit balances, Tan added.

Superannuation assets grew 1.4 percent, or 55.2 billion Australian dollars, driven by strong investment returns on overseas assets and additional contributions, said the ABS.

Meanwhile, total credit demand stood at 92.1 billion Australian dollars, led by private businesses and households. The Commonwealth government saw its lowest credit demand in the December quarter since 1988, reflecting the maturity of pandemic-era debt, Tan said. (1 Australian dollar equals 0.63 U.S. dollar) Enditem

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