By James Glynn

SYDNEY--Soaring shares and house prices lifted Australian household wealth to record levels in the first quarter of 2021.

Total household wealth rose 4.3%, or 518 billion Australian dollars (US$$392.54 billion), in the first quarter to reach a record A$12.665 trillion, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Wealth per capita rose to a record high of A$492,055, the ABS said.

Residential assets contributed 3.5 percentage points to the quarterly growth in household wealth, followed by retirement fund balances and directly held shares, at 0.6 and 0.2 percentage points, respectively, said Head of Finance and Wealth at the ABS, Katherine Keenan.

"Growth in household wealth continued to be driven by rising residential property prices, reflecting record low interest rates, support through a range of government incentives and recovery in the labor market," she said.

Through the year, household wealth grew 15.3%, which is the strongest pace since March 2010.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, "household wealth grew more in the last year than it did during the preceding three years combined," Ms. Keenan said.

Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-23-21 2344ET