“Baby Boomers have historically been the largest holders of housing assets, but as this cohort ages into retirement they are beginning to sell down their property portfolios”, KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said.

But while Gen X’s share of property holdings is increasing, KPMG’s findings laid bare the difference in homeownership between younger and older Australians.

Generation X has, on average, $1.31 million in housing wealth, followed closely by Baby Boomers at $1.30 million.

Millennials, by comparison, have $750,000 on average despite many of them being in their mid to high 30s – older than the age of an average first-home buyer in previous generations.

Gen Z has by far the lowest average housing holdings, at just $69,000.

”While the starter’s gun has been fired on the great wealth transfer, our findings still demonstrate a clear disparity in housing wealth between older and younger generations,” Rawnsley said.

There’s a similar picture when it comes to shares, with Gen X and Baby Boomers ($256,000 and $206,000 respectively) well ahead of their Millennial and Gen Z counterparts ($51,000 and $7000 respectively).

In terms of cash and deposits, Boomers have comfortably the most with $242,000, helping them to the highest net wealth of all the generations at $2.31 million, well ahead of Gen X ($1.88 million), Millennials ($757,000) and Gen Z ($96,000).

“These net worth figures highlight the wealth accumulation lifecycle, where older generations have had more time to build assets and pay down debt,” Rawnsley said.

While the oldest generation also has the most in “other” assets, which include superannuation and business holdings, KMPG found there was something of a silver lining there for younger Australians.

“There is some good news for younger generations in the superannuation asset class as they are coming off a far higher base than their parents,” Rawnsley said. T

“This means the wealth they will eventually accumulate from super will be far higher than older generations.”