Share this @internewscast.com
As Australia’s housing crisis continues to deepen, the dream of home ownership is slipping further away from the average Australian. Meanwhile, the nation’s billionaires possess the financial power to buy hundreds of thousands of homes with their vast fortunes.
The recent release of the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List highlights that the combined wealth of Australia’s 200 richest individuals has ballooned by 160 percent over the last ten years, amounting to a staggering $667.8 billion by 2025.
Leading the list for the sixth consecutive year is mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, with her fortune estimated at $38.1 billion.

This is set against a median personal income of just $55,062 per year, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Anti-poverty organisation Oxfam says property has been the most frequent source of wealth accumulation for Australia’s wealthiest.
The group told SBS News the wealth of the entire Rich List could buy over 680,000 average Australian homes, based on ABS’s mean dwelling price of $976,800.
And that divide is growing.
According to Oxfam Australia’s analysis of the Rich List, the number of Australian billionaires has more than doubled over the past decade — rising from 74 in 2015 to 161 in 2025.
Over that same period, billionaire wealth has grown on average by more than $137 million a day — or $95,000 every minute.

The average Rich Lister has over 116,000 times the wealth of an Australian in the bottom 50 per cent.

A graph showing how the rich are getting richer

Over the past decade, the wealth of billionaires has increased at a rate of $95,000 every minute — surpassing the annual income of the median Australian taxpayer. Source: SBS News

‘Morally wrong, economically and socially dangerous’

Oxfam is renewing calls for tax reform to address what it describes as “rampant inequality” and ensure the ultra-wealthy contribute their fair share.
“Any billionaire is a sign that our economic system isn’t working properly,” Oxfam Australia acting chief Chrisanta Muli told SBS News.
“This level of inequality is not just morally wrong — it’s economically and socially dangerous. While millions of Australians are struggling to make ends meet, the country’s richest continue to amass eye-watering fortunes, often without lifting a finger.

“Millions of households struggle to put food on the table while the super-rich live in excess.”

Oxfam’s analysis found the average wealth of someone in the bottom 50 per cent of the population has flatlined at around $28,000 over the past decade, offering little chance of home ownership or long-term financial security.
It said on the other hand, Australia’s largest property developer, Harry Triguboff who is the second-richest Australian on the AFR Rich List, has seen his personal wealth more than double — from $13.7 billion in 2016 to $29.7 billion in 2025.
According to Oxfam, that amount could buy more than 30,000 average Australian homes.

In the past ten years, retail, investments, and mining/resources have been prominent sectors contributing to wealth growth, following property as the primary source for the affluent Australians.

The rise of housing unaffordability — and billionaire wealth

Oxfam points out that the boom in personal wealth has coincided with a worsening housing crisis.

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.
  • Just 12.8 per cent rental properties are affordable for a family of four on two minimum wage incomes.
  • For people on JobSeeker, the Disability Support Pension, or the Age Pension, affordable rentals are virtually nonexistent. 

“It is scandalous and unjust that property continues to be one of the biggest drivers of wealth across the decade while over 99 per cent of rentals are unaffordable for people earning a full-time minimum wage,” Muli said.

A graph showing rental affordability by income groups.

The Anglicare Snapshot surveyed 51,238 rental listings across Australia, revealing that just 0.7 per cent of rentals were affordable for someone earning a full-time minimum wage. Source: SBS News

Meanwhile, the 2024 PropTrack Housing Affordability Report found housing affordability to be at a record low — with a typical household earning a combined income of $112,000 a year, able to afford just 14 per cent of all homes sold across the country.

Their analysis showed that you now need to be a high-income household, classified as earning $213,000 a year, to be able to afford to buy half the homes sold in Australia over that year.

Oxfam calls to tax the rich

The organisation is calling on the federal government to conduct a comprehensive review of the tax system to better address wealth accumulation by the super-rich and close what it sees as a failure of the progressive tax system.
They’re proposing a wealth tax targeting the richest one per cent, which is believed could raise tens of billions of dollars annually and contribute to healthcare, affordable housing and action on climate change.
“Billionaires pay an effective tax rate of around 0.3 per cent of their wealth globally. Because billionaires grow their wealth through assets, not incomes, the income tax system is failing to properly tax them,” Muli said.

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like
A car crash in Adelaide.

Motorist in fatal accident that claimed a mother’s life escapes life imprisonment

An Adelaide woman lost her life in a tragic accident with an…
Geologist James Hagadorn closes boxes of core rock samples at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science on July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Discovery Made by US Dinosaur Museum Beneath Its Parking Lot

A US museum famous for its dinosaur exhibits has discovered a fossil…

Afghan Asylum Seeker Appeals to Australian Authorities to Halt Deportation

Nearly four years after being captured and tortured by the Taliban, Ahmad…

US and NATO to Provide Ukraine with Weapons Ahead of Key Announcement on Russia

Donald Trump has announced that the United States will be providing weapons…
Second Australian city becomes million-dollar housing market

Another Major Australian City Enters the Million-Dollar Housing Club

Brisbane is now part of Australia’s million-dollar property markets, with median house…

Israeli Airstrike Claims Lives of Children Waiting for Medical Care Near Gaza Clinic, Reports Aid Organization

This story contains graphic content that may be distressing for some readers.…
Chermside hit-run

Brisbane Hit-and-Run: Tradie Involved in Fatal Accident May Be Released Soon

A Queensland tradie was sentenced to five years jail today for killing…
Desmond Avery will stand trial after pleading not guilty to all charges over a deadly home invasion.

Man Refutes Involvement in Home Invasion Resulting in Accomplice’s Death

A man facing charges for a home invasion that resulted in a…
Carolina Wilga, 26, has been backpacking through Australia for the past two years and works on mines to fund her stay at hostels.

Latest Updates on the Missing Backpacker’s Whereabouts in Western Australia’s Outback

Police discovered the unique Mitsubishi Delica van that the 26-year-old had been…

Tour de France: Pogacar Regains Lead with Impressive Stage Seven Performance

Tadej Pogacar won stage seven of the Tour de France to regain…

“Brazil’s President Threatens Equivalent Retaliation to Trump’s Tariff Plan, Vows ‘We’ll Impose a 50% Charge'”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his desire for a…
Trump hand-picks Aussie politician turned 'alpha male' for diplomatic role

Trump Selects Former Australian Politician, Now ‘Alpha Male,’ for Diplomatic Position

A former Sydney councillor, who once faced suspension from the Liberal Party,…