Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth 2020

Households were ranked from lowest to highest net wealth and were divided into five equally sized groups called quintiles, so that the lowest quintile represents the 20% of households with the lowest wealth and so on. The higher a household's net wealth the more likely they were to have received an inheritance or gift. Of the least wealthy 20% of households (Quintile 1) 16% received an inheritance or gift. This increased to 63% of households who received a transfer among the wealthiest 20% of households (Quintile 5).

Ranking households from lowest gross income to highest gross income and dividing households into five equally sized quintile groups shows that households in income Quintile 4 and Quintile 5 were the most likely to have received an inheritance or gift (39% and 41% respectively). But, unlike net wealth, there is not a clear relationship throughout the income distribution between household income and the likelihood of receiving an intergenerational wealth transfer, as households in income Quintile 1 were more likely to have received a transfer than those in Quintile 2. Of households in Quintile 1, 35% have received an inheritance or gift, which is higher than the 32% that received in Quintile 2. This is likely due to the composition of this bottom income quintile, which includes many older households whose main source of income is the state pension but have had longer to accumulate inheritances and gifts over their lifetime. See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1.

There is similarly a positive relationship between net wealth and the value of intergenerational wealth transfers. Recipient households in Quintile 1 have the lowest median value of inheritances and gifts of €6,700. The value of transfers increase to a median value of €189,700 in Quintile 5.  See Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2.

Assessing the types of assets transferred across the net wealth distribution, it is evident from Figure 3.3 that the likelihood of having received money tends to decrease as households move up the wealth distribution, except for Quintile 4. After Quintile 1 the likelihood of receiving a household main residence (HMR) stays about level across the rest of the wealth distribution.

For intergenerational transfers of land and non-HMR dwellings there is a clear positive trajectory in the likelihood of receiving these assets as households move up the wealth distribution. See Figure 3.3 and Table 3.3.

In terms of the value of assets transferred though inheritances or gifts, the median value of each of the assets presented in Figure 3.4 increases as households move up the wealth distribution. See Figure 3.4 and Table 3.3.