New Zealand's net wealth passes 1 trillion USD: statistics

WELLINGTON, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- New Zealanders' wealth rose at its fastest pace in a decade, mainly driven by rising property values, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Monday.

New Zealanders' net worth rose 136 billion NZ dollars (95 billion U.S. dollars) to 1.5 trillion NZ dollars (1 trillion U.S. dollars) in the year to March 31, 2016. The total net worth is equal to about 330,000 NZ dollars (231,324 U.S. dollars) per person, mainly reflecting the value of property ownership.

"Net worth is the balance of what New Zealanders own over what they owe, and this is the biggest increase experienced in the last 10 years," national accounts senior manager Gary Dunnet said in a statement.

Data used in this release comes from a range of sources, some of which is only available up to 2016. Therefore, the integrated data presented is up to the March 2016 year, Dunnet said.

Household net worth increased 11 percent, which was largely driven by rises of 84 billion NZ dollars in property values and 14 billion NZ dollars in currency and deposits, offset somewhat by additional loans of 12 billion NZ dollars, he said.

Households own property worth 680 billion NZ dollars, about 45 percent of total household assets of 1,495 billion NZ dollars, Dunnet said, adding that the other main household assets are shares and other equity, currency and deposits, and insurance and pension funds.

From March 2015 to 2016, household deposits increased 10 percent to 154 billion NZ dollars, and provided an increased share of banking funding, statistics show.

Financial assets, including bank deposits and shares, held by New Zealanders rose from 1,780 billion NZ dollars in 2007 to 2,575 billion NZ dollars in 2016, up 45 percent. Most financial assets are held in equity and loans, Stats NZ said. (1 NZ dollar = 0.7 U.S. dollar) Enditem