Study on private households
Bundesbank: Inflation meets poorer households stronger
Private assets are still very unevenly distributed in Germany. According to the Bundesbank, inflation primarily melted the assets of poorer households.
Inflation as a result of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has particularly hit the poorer households in Germany. Adjusted for the price, the net assets of the lower half decreased by more than 20 percent between 2021 and 2023, as can be seen from a study by the Bundesbank on the finances of private households.
The average assets of German households grew by 2.6 percent to EUR 324,800 in the period observed, but there was a decline of almost 11 percent at unchanged prices.
Medium assets decreased
Because the average are strongly influenced by extreme values, the Bundesbank experts consider the so-called median value to be more meaningful anyway. It is in the middle when you sort the respective assets of size. Households are divided into a richer and poorer half. From 2021 to 2023, the value of the middle assets – the median – also sagged a nominal by a good 3 percent to 103,200 euros. Covered in terms of price, it even went down 16 percent.
In Germany, the assets remain very unevenly distributed in Germany. According to the Bundesbank, the 10 percent richest households still have more than 60 percent of private assets. In comparison to 20 European countries, an unequal structure only shows Austria.
Higher return for the rich
The poorer households mainly keep their assets in plants with low returns and low risk. Examples are savings and checking accounts as well as fixed deposits. In addition, with increasing assets there are more risky investment forms such as securities and silent participations in companies that generally achieve higher returns. Real estate possession also plays an increasing and stabilizing role in larger assets.
Despite the slightly increasing shares, the owners of shares (18 percent of all households) and fund shares (24 percent) are still in the minority. Attacking classics such as savings accounts (67 percent) and capital lifestyle insurance (39 percent) are declining.
Debt are deducted beforehand
In interviews, private households provided information about their assets: real estate and cars, valuable collections and jewelry, credit on savings accounts, building society contracts, shares, life insurance. On the target page: mortgages, consumer loans, credit card debt, BAföG debt. Claims from the statutory pension insurance are not taken into account. 39 percent of households are in debt. 83 percent save at least occasionally.
The central bank carried out the study for the fifth time. The waves of survey with 3985 participating households took place between May 2023 and February 2024. No statements are therefore possible on the consequences of the latest stock exchange turmoil due to US customs policy.
Monthly reports Bundesbank
dpa
Source: Stern
