Global wealth continues to rise and reaches a new all-time high. But the engine driving it is less and less the real economy and more and more the revaluation of real estate and financial assets. This is the main message of the new Global Balance Sheet 2026 from the McKinsey Global Institute, published last July 23, which captures a global wealth of nearly 1,800 trillion dollars, while the net wealth of households reaches 570 trillion, more than four times the level recorded in 2000 (according to estimates released last Thursday by the OECD, real household income stood at +0.2% in the first quarter of the year compared to a previous +0.6%, for Italy +0.8%).
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The novelty, however, is not only the new record. McKinsey notes that the quality of wealth growth continues to deteriorate: only 20% of the increase in wealth in 2025 comes from new capital formation, that is from investments in infrastructure, plants, machinery, and other productive assets. All the rest comes from the increase in the value of already existing assets, the so-called paper wealth, a “on paper” wealth fueled by real estate prices and especially financial markets.
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It is the progressive disconnect between wealth and the real economy that represents, according to McKinsey economists, the main vulnerability element. When the value of assets grows much faster than GDP and productive investments, the risk increases that future market corrections will erase part of the accumulated wealth, with effects on growth and financial stability.
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Geographical differences
The report describes a world that is taking increasingly divergent directions. The United States continue to represent the most dynamic case: the race of artificial intelligence and record corporate profits have pushed stock market capitalization to unprecedented levels. The valuations of American companies have reached about 2.4 times the value of net assets, while corporate profits represent a share of GDP almost double the pre-2000 average. A situation that, according to McKinsey, can only be sustainable if productivity continues to accelerate.
China, on the other hand, follows an opposite path. The correction of the real estate market has downsized household wealth, while the use of public debt and especially corporate debt continues to grow, reaching about 80% of real corporate assets, well above the international average between 40 and 50 percent.
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