It's that time of year again, when The Australian Financial Review puts the spotlight on a parade of our fellow citizens overburdened with eyewatering wealth.

Login or signup to continue reading

While these Australians are lauded for their entrepreneurial pluckiness, what the Rich List really highlights is the incredible and growing inequality that has now become a feature of our society.

Oxfam analysis of the Rich List found the number of Australian billionaires has more than doubled over the past decade, with billionaire wealth growing by more than $137 million per day, or $95,000 per minute.

Meanwhile, the average wealth of someone in the bottom 50 per cent of the wealth spectrum is $28,000. Minimum-wage workers earn less than $50,000 a year and people on income support live well below the poverty line. The inequality is staggering.

It's worth taking a closer look at how property has played a part in this accumulation of wealth and contributed to the current housing crisis.

MORE OPINION: Any time someone tries to get ahead in Australia, the govt taxes them to the hilt

Over the past 10 years, property investments have been the most frequent source of wealth accumulation for Australia's richest.

This when many everyday Australians can't even afford a decent rental, with 99.3 per cent of them unaffordable for people earning a full-time minimum wage and, on any given night,

© Canberra Times