Irish still among the most indebted in the EU

Soaring home prices has boosted household wealth but Irish people are still the fourth most indebted in the EU a decade after the start of the crash, Central Bank figures show.

The report, Quarterly Financial Accounts, shows that the net worth of households which takes account of the value of their assets such as property prices and liabilities, including the outstanding amounts on mortgage loans, has soared from the depth of the crash but is 9% below the boom-time peak 10 years ago.

Net worth climbed €7.2 billion to €653.7bn by the end of 2016. That is equivalent to €137,286 for each person in the State, the Central Bank said. Most of the €7.2bn increase was accounted for by a rise of €4.2bn in the value of property values and by an increase of €1.5bn in financial assets.