The wealth of Irish households rose to a record €1.4 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 with the richest 10 per cent of households commanding almost half.
The headline figure, detailed in the Central Bank’s latest quarterly wealth statistics, equates to approximately €268,000 per person in the State.
The increase in recent years has been driven by higher property values, which account for more than two thirds of household wealth.
“The total value of housing assets owned by Irish households increased by €14.1 billion since the previous quarter, largely due to positive revaluations,” the Central Bank said.
The latest quarter-on-quarter increase was, however, driven by a rise in the value of financial assets held by households, which increased by €42.8 billion.
Total financial assets stood at €643.8 billion and were mainly composed of currency and deposits (€222.5 billion) and insurance and pension entitlements (€312 billion).
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The figures, however, highlighted an uneven distribution of wealth in Ireland with households in the bottom half commanding less than 10 per cent of total household wealth, equivalent to €145 billion.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households owned €693.1 billion, or 47.2 per cent of total household net wealth.
The figures showed that the total net wealth of Irish households rose by €55.3 billion to stand at €1.429 trillion at the end of the first quarter of this year.
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“This represents a new series high, continuing the pattern of growth seen in recent years,” the regulator said.
Total liabilities, mainly consisting of long-term loans, totalled €158.9 billion for the period, up €1.6 billion on the previous quarter.
“Much of Ireland’s household wealth is linked to property and given the steady house price growth of recent years, this is perhaps unsurprising,” Bryan Harvey, managing director of wealth advisers WealthPlan, said.
“While the level of house price growth has eased, house prices continue to increase with the latest figures showing they are 26.5 per cent above the highest level at the peak of the property boom in April 2007,” he said.
Also responding to the report was deputy chief executive of Brokers Ireland Rachel McGovern who said the figures underlined the need for a new savings scheme.
Minister for Finance Simon Harris is planning to set up a new State-sponsored savings scheme to encourage households to invest in higher-yielding assets.
The scheme, which is set to be announced at budget time, is expected to carry a flat rate of annual tax.
The Government is understood to have been looking at the UK and Swedish models.
“And with little over a month away from Budget 2027 when Minister for Finance, Simon Harris, is due to announce the shape of his new savings and investment plan, yet again we see that households in the top net wealth decile have a more diversified portfolio composition containing shares and other investment instruments,” McGovern said.
“This points to the need for the new plan to embrace those on average wages and below,” she said.