Australia’s housing crisis is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. For many, the dream of home ownership is slipping further out of reach, while rents soar and affordable options dwindle.
But here’s a jaw-dropping fact: the combined wealth of Australia’s richest 200 people could buy more than 680,000 average homes.
Billionaire boom: The numbers behind the wealth
The latest Australian Financial Review Rich List paints a stark picture of wealth in this country.
Over the past decade, the total wealth of Australia’s richest 200 has ballooned by a staggering 160 per cent, reaching a record $667.8 billion in 2025.
Leading the pack for the sixth year running is mining magnate Gina Rinehart, whose personal fortune now sits at an eye-watering $38.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the median personal income for everyday Australians is just $55,062 a year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The contrast couldn’t be sharper.
Property: The golden goose for the ultra-rich
It’s no secret that property has been the golden ticket for Australia’s wealthiest.
Oxfam, the anti-poverty organisation, points out that property is the most common source of wealth accumulation for the country’s richest.
Their analysis shows that the combined wealth of the Rich List could snap up over 680,000 average Australian homes, based on the ABS’s mean dwelling price of $976,800.
And the gap is only getting wider. The number of Australian billionaires has more than doubled in the past decade, from 74 in 2015 to 161 in 2025.
Their collective wealth has grown by an average of $137 million every single day—that’s $95,000 every minute.
For context, the average Rich Lister now has over 116,000 times the wealth of someone in the bottom 50 per cent of the population.
A system out of balance?
Oxfam’s acting chief, Chrisanta Muli, doesn’t mince words: ‘Any billionaire is a sign that our economic system isn’t working properly. This level of inequality is not just morally wrong—it’s economically and socially dangerous.’
While millions of Australians are struggling to pay the rent or put food on the table, the country’s richest are amassing fortunes, often through passive investments and property portfolios.
The numbers are sobering. The average wealth of someone in the bottom half of the population has flatlined at around $28,000 over the past decade.
Meanwhile, property tycoon Harry Triguboff, Australia’s second-richest person, has seen his wealth more than double—from $13.7 billion in 2016 to $29.7 billion in 2025.
That’s enough to buy more than 30,000 average homes.
Housing affordability: A crisis point
The timing of this billionaire boom couldn’t be worse for ordinary Australians.
According to Anglicare Australia’s 2025 Rental Affordability Snapshot, only 0.7 per cent of rental listings are affordable for someone earning a full-time minimum wage.
For families on two minimum wages, just 12.8 per cent of rentals are within reach.
And for those on JobSeeker, the Disability Support Pension, or the Age Pension, affordable rentals are virtually nonexistent.
The 2024 PropTrack Housing Affordability Report found that housing affordability is at a record low.
A typical household earning a combined $112,000 a year can now afford just 14 per cent of homes sold across the country.
To afford half the homes on the market, you would need a household income of $213,000 a year—well out of reach for most Australians.
The call for change: Taxing the super-rich
So, what is the solution? Oxfam is calling for a comprehensive review of Australia’s tax system, with a particular focus on wealth taxes for the richest one per cent.
They argue that the current system is failing to tax the ultra-wealthy effectively, since most of their wealth comes from assets rather than income.
Globally, billionaires pay an effective tax rate of just 0.3 per cent on their wealth.
A targeted wealth tax, Oxfam says, could raise tens of billions of dollars each year—money that could be invested in healthcare, affordable housing, and climate action.
‘It is scandalous and unjust that property continues to be one of the biggest drivers of wealth while over 99 per cent of rentals are unaffordable for people earning a full-time minimum wage,’ says Muli.
Have your say
Seeing how billionaires’ fortunes have grown while so many struggle with housing really makes you wonder about how things are working. There’s no easy answer, but it’s a conversation worth having.
What’s your take on the wealth divide and whether tax changes could help? Or do you think the focus should be somewhere else? Join the chat and share your views below.
Also read: Australia is forecast to fall 262,000 homes short of its housing target. We need bold action
