Irish household wealth rises to record €1.4 trillion

Poorer households held the largest part of their financial wealth in deposits at 18.6% of their total assets.

The net wealth of Irish households reached a new record high of €1.4 trillion, driven by a rise in the value of their homes, pensions and investments.

New data from the Central Bank for the first quarter of 2026 shows wealth rose by €55.3bn on the final quarter of 2025. The overall increase was mainly driven by a rise in financial assets, which increased by €42.8bn. 

Households’ total financial assets stood at €643.8bn and were mainly composed of currency and deposits at €222.5bn and insurance and pension entitlements at €312bn.

Two-thirds of household wealth is housing, and it increased by €14.1bn over the quarter, largely due to positive revaluations.

Total liabilities, mainly consisting of long-term loans, totalled €158.9bn. This amount increased by €1.6bn from the end of the previous quarter.

In the first quarter, the household debt-to-assets ratio declined to 9.6%, as loans increased only marginally to stand at €153.1bn.

The Central Bank said households’ total investment in new housing and financial assets totalled €7.9bn. Of this, investment in new housing equalled €3.2bn, which is €1.8bn lower than in the previous quarter. 

Financial investments were primarily in currency and deposits (€2.2bn), and equity and investment fund shares.

Inequality measure

The data shows the wealthiest 10% of Irish households owned €693.1bn, or 47.2% of total household net wealth in the country. The total net wealth of households in the poorest half of the distribution increased by €3.8bn to stand at €145bn, or 9.9% of the national total.

As a result, the richest 10% of Irish households held nearly five times the amount held by households in the bottom half of the net wealth distribution altogether. Households in the “middle” part of the distribution owned €629.4bn overall, or 42.9% of total net wealth in the country at quarter-end.

The balance sheet composition of Irish households differs significantly between the wealthier and poorer.

Households in the top net wealth decile displayed a more diversified portfolio composition with debt securities, listed shares, investment fund shares and life insurance and annuity entitlements featured prominently, accounting for 21.3% of total assets. 

Wealthier households also displayed lower debt levels of 4%, when compared to households in the bottom half of the wealth distribution.

Conversely, poorer households held the largest part of their financial wealth in deposits at 18.6% of their total assets, and were significantly more leveraged with borrowings of 27.1%.

Despite the gap, the report shows the Irish Gini coefficient, the measure of inequality, has steadily fallen, indicating a notable reduction in the level of wealth inequality in the country.