Why personal wealth in Australia is rising faster than other nations
Kanebridge News
    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,625,762 (+0.30%)       Melbourne $981,601 (-0.13%)       Brisbane $1,022,323 (+1.28%)       Adelaide $910,618 (-1.43%)       Perth $905,798 (+0.22%)       Hobart $741,062 (+0.41%)       Darwin $687,466 (+0.61%)       Canberra $951,873 (+0.42%)       National $1,051,469 (+0.24%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $772,103 (+0.04%)       Melbourne $497,490 (-0.17%)       Brisbane $615,777 (+1.95%)       Adelaide $468,547 (-1.01%)       Perth $482,162 (-0.56%)       Hobart $516,684 (-0.23%)       Darwin $369,522 (+0.06%)       Canberra $482,557 (-1.16%)       National $549,654 (+0.08%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 11,363 (-186)       Melbourne 15,698 (+60)       Brisbane 8,643 (+310)       Adelaide 2,306 (-63)       Perth 6,423 (+143)       Hobart 1,121 (+1)       Darwin 289 (+6)       Canberra 1,124 (-19)       National 46,967 (+252)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,865 (+108)       Melbourne 8,850 (-61)       Brisbane 1,740 (-36)       Adelaide 450 (+4)       Perth 1,490 (+15)       Hobart 202 (+6)       Darwin 337 (-18)       Canberra 1,095 (+3)       National 24,029 (+21)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $600 ($0)       Brisbane $640 (+$10)       Adelaide $600 (-$10)       Perth $650 ($0)       Hobart $550 ($0)       Darwin $750 (+$20)       Canberra $680 ($0)       National $668 (+$3)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $730 (-$20)       Melbourne $575 ($0)       Brisbane $625 ($0)       Adelaide $500 ($0)       Perth $620 ($0)       Hobart $450 ($0)       Darwin $550 (-$30)       Canberra $550 ($0)       National $586 (-$7)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 5,793 (+13)       Melbourne 6,660 (-32)       Brisbane 4,197 (-81)       Adelaide 1,411 (-14)       Perth 2,341 (+58)       Hobart 239 (-26)       Darwin 91 (+1)       Canberra 477 (+3)       National 21,209 (-78)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,415 (-261)       Melbourne 6,477 (-80)       Brisbane 2,187 (-26)       Adelaide 370 (-19)       Perth 609 (+33)       Hobart 99 (+5)       Darwin 203 (+2)       Canberra 747 (-39)       National 20,107 (-385)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 2.56% (↓)     Melbourne 3.18% (↑)      Brisbane 3.26% (↑)        Adelaide 3.43% (↓)       Perth 3.73% (↓)       Hobart 3.86% (↓)     Darwin 5.67% (↑)        Canberra 3.71% (↓)     National 3.30% (↑)             UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 4.92% (↓)     Melbourne 6.01% (↑)        Brisbane 5.28% (↓)     Adelaide 5.55% (↑)      Perth 6.69% (↑)      Hobart 4.53% (↑)        Darwin 7.74% (↓)     Canberra 5.93% (↑)        National 5.54% (↓)            HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 0.8% (↑)      Melbourne 0.7% (↑)      Brisbane 0.7% (↑)      Adelaide 0.4% (↑)      Perth 0.4% (↑)      Hobart 0.9% (↑)      Darwin 0.8% (↑)      Canberra 1.0% (↑)      National 0.7% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 0.9% (↑)      Melbourne 1.1% (↑)      Brisbane 1.0% (↑)      Adelaide 0.5% (↑)      Perth 0.5% (↑)      Hobart 1.4% (↑)      Darwin 1.7% (↑)      Canberra 1.4% (↑)      National 1.1% (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND         Sydney 27.9 (↓)       Melbourne 30.0 (↓)     Brisbane 31.4 (↑)        Adelaide 24.1 (↓)     Perth 36.3 (↑)      Hobart 31.0 (↑)        Darwin 36.1 (↓)     Canberra 30.7 (↑)      National 30.9 (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND         Sydney 28.6 (↓)       Melbourne 30.9 (↓)       Brisbane 30.7 (↓)     Adelaide 23.2 (↑)      Perth 34.0 (↑)        Hobart 30.9 (↓)       Darwin 42.8 (↓)     Canberra 36.0 (↑)        National 32.2 (↓)           
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Why personal wealth in Australia is rising faster than other nations

We are now the second-wealthiest per capita in the world

By Bronwyn Allen
Tue, Jul 16, 2024 11:59amGrey Clock 2 min

The average wealth of Australian adults grew by nearly 10 percent last year, more than double the pace of 56 other countries, and we are now the second-wealthiest per capita in the world, according to the 2024 UBS Global Wealth Report. The median wealth of Australians is now USD$261,805 per person (AUD$387,612). The wealthiest people live in Luxembourg where the average resident is worth USD$372,258 (AUD$551,142).

UBS says the bulk of our rising wealth over the past year has come from gains in property values and superannuation. More than half of our wealth is in ‘non-financial’ or relatively illiquid assets such as bricks and mortar. This is unusual relative to our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, where 60 percent of personal wealth is held in shares, bonds, mutual funds and savings accounts.

Australia also has the world’s third-largest population of millionaires. According to UBS, 1,936,114 Australians are millionaires in US dollar terms, which equates to 10 percent of the population. By 2028, UBS forecasts that Australia will have almost 400,000 more millionaires at 2,334,015 people. Of the 56 countries covered in the report, the United States has the most millionaires at 21,951,319 people. This cohort is forecast to expand by almost 3.5 million people to 25,425,792 by 2028.

Property has delivered exceptional capital gains to Australian homeowners since the onset of the pandemic. Sydney home values are 28 percent higher today than they were in early 2020, according to CoreLogic data. Home values in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are more than 60 percent higher. In Hobart, property values are 28 percent higher, and in Canberra they are 32 percent higher. Melbourne home values are 11 percent higher.

UBS explains that rising wealth tends to go hand-in-hand with economic development. Since the Global Financial Crisis, wealth has risen fastest in the Asia-Pacific region at nearly 177 percent over 15 years. This has occurred alongside 192 percent growth in debt, however, UBS notes that “it is not uncommon for emerging economies to experience fast growth in credit as the financial system develops and matures”.

While global wealth is steadily rising, it is doing so at a slower pace. There are many reasons for this, including smaller rates of growth as countries become wealthier and their economies mature. Also, countries with aging populations tend to see falling rates of economic activity, which affects both personal and national wealth. Between 2000 and 2010, Australia’s annual compound growth rate in wealth was 15 percent. Between 2010 and 2023, it shrank to four percent. China’s annual growth rate has fallen from 19 percent between 2000 and 2010 to eight percent between 2010 and 2013.

The report also looked at wealth inequality and assigned a score of between zero and 100 to each of the 56 nations. A low score indicated more equality and a high score indicated greater inequality. Australia has an inequality score of 51 now. This is forecast to grow to 54 by 2028. Countries with a similar score include Japan (50), Italy (50), Belgium (51) and Finland (53). Saudi Arabia had the highest wealth inequality score at 89, followed by the United Arab Emirates (88), United States (76) and Sweden (74).



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A Godfather of AI Just Won a Nobel. He Has Been Warning the Machines Could Take Over the World.

Geoffrey Hinton hopes the prize will add credibility to his claims about the dangers of AI technology he pioneered

By MILES KRUPPA
Thu, Oct 10, 2024 4 min

The newly minted Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton has a message about the artificial-intelligence systems he helped create: get more serious about safety or they could endanger humanity.

“I think we’re at a kind of bifurcation point in history where, in the next few years, we need to figure out if there’s a way to deal with that threat,” Hinton said in an interview Tuesday with a Nobel Prize official that mixed pride in his life’s work with warnings about the growing danger it poses.

The 76-year-old Hinton resigned from Google last year in part so he could talk more about the possibility that AI systems could escape human control and influence elections or power dangerous robots. Along with other experienced AI researchers, he has called on such companies as OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Alphabet -owned Google to devote more resources to the safety of the advanced systems that they are competing against each other to develop as quickly as possible.

Hinton’s Nobel win has provided a new platform for his doomsday warnings at the same time it celebrates his critical role in advancing the technologies fueling them. Hinton has argued that advanced AI systems are capable of understanding their outputs, a controversial view in research circles.

“Hopefully, it will make me more credible when I say these things really do understand what they’re saying,” he said of the prize.

Hinton’s views have pitted him against factions of the AI community that believe dwelling on doomsday scenarios needlessly slows technological progress or distracts from more immediate harms, such as discrimination against minority groups .

“I think that he’s a smart guy, but I think a lot of people have way overhyped the risk of these things, and that’s really convinced a lot of the general public that this is what we should be focusing on, not the more immediate harms of AI,” said Melanie Mitchell, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute, during a panel last year.

Hinton visited Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters Tuesday for an informal celebration, and some of the company’s top AI executives congratulated him on social media.

On Wednesday, other prominent Googlers specialising in AI were also awarded a Nobel Prize. Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google DeepMind, and John M. Jumper, director at the AI lab, were part of a group of three scientists who won the chemistry prize for their work on predicting the shape of proteins.

Thinking like people

Hinton is sharing the Nobel Prize in physics with John Hopfield of Princeton University for their work since the 1980s on neural networks that process information in ways inspired by the human brain. That work is the basis for many of the AI technologies in use today, from ChatGPT’s humanlike conversations to Google Photos’ ability to recognise who is in every picture you take.

“Their contributions to connect fundamental concepts in physics with concepts in biology, not just AI—these concepts are still with us today,” said Yoshua Bengio , an AI researcher at the University of Montreal.

In 2012, Hinton worked with two of his University of Toronto graduate students, Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, on a neural network called AlexNet programmed to recognise images in photos. Until that point, computer algorithms had often been unable to tell that a picture of a dog was really a dog and not a cat or a car.

AlexNet’s blowout victory at a 2012 contest for image-recognition technology was a pivotal moment in the development of the modern AI boom, as it proved the power of neural nets over other approaches.

That same year, Hinton started a company with Krizhevsky and Sutskever that turned out to be short-lived. Google acquired it in 2013 in an auction against competitors including Baidu and Microsoft, paying $44 million essentially to hire the three men, according to the book “Genius Makers.” Hinton began splitting time between the University of Toronto and Google, where he continued research on neural networks.

Hinton is widely revered as a mentor for the current generation of top AI researchers including Sutskever, who co-founded OpenAI before leaving this spring to start a company called Safe Superintelligence.

Hinton received the 2018 Turing Award, a computer-science prize, for his work on neural networks alongside Bengio and a fellow AI researcher, Yann LeCun . The three are often referred to as the modern “godfathers of AI.”

Warnings of disaster

By 2023, Hinton had become alarmed about the consequences of building more powerful artificial intelligence. He began talking about the possibility that AI systems could escape the control of their creators and cause catastrophic harm to humanity. In doing so, he aligned himself with a vocal movement of people concerned about the existential risks of the technology.

“We’re in a situation that most people can’t even conceive of, which is that these digital intelligences are going to be a lot smarter than us, and if they want to get stuff done, they’re going to want to take control,” Hinton said in an interview last year.

Hinton announced he was leaving Google in spring 2023, saying he wanted to be able to freely discuss the dangers of AI without worrying about consequences for the company. Google had acted “very responsibly,” he said in an X post.

In the subsequent months, Hinton has spent much of his time speaking to policymakers and tech executives, including Elon Musk , about AI risks.

Hinton cosigned a paper last year saying companies doing AI work should allocate at least one-third of their research and development resources to ensuring the safety and ethical use of their systems.

“One thing governments can do is force the big companies to spend a lot more of their resources on safety research, so that for example companies like OpenAI can’t just put safety research on the back burner,” Hinton said in the Nobel interview.

An OpenAI spokeswoman said the company is proud of its safety work.

With Bengio and other researchers, Hinton supported an artificial-intelligence safety bill passed by the California Legislature this summer that would have required developers of large AI systems to take a number of steps to ensure they can’t cause catastrophic damage. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently vetoed the bill , which was opposed by most big tech companies including Google.

Hinton’s increased activism has put him in opposition to other respected researchers who believe his warnings are fantastical because AI is far from having the capability to cause serious harm.

“Their complete lack of understanding of the physical world and lack of planning abilities put them way below cat-level intelligence, never mind human-level,” LeCun wrote in a response to Hinton on X last year.

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This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan

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