Despite the health crisis, household wealth continued to grow in 2020, thanks to the rise in real estate prices, according to
a study by INSEE and the Banque de France published this Friday.
Household wealth thus stood at 13.440 billion euros at the end of 2020, or 9.3 times their net disposable income, up 6.4% over one year. Their non-financial wealth, almost exclusively made up of real estate, thus increased by 6.6%, after + 5.5% in 2019.
“Forced” savings
It is notably driven by “the marked increase in real estate prices at the end of 2020”, and that “even if the health crisis disrupts the dynamics of real estate sales by causing a contraction of investment”, underline the two institutions in a common note. Household net financial wealth also continued to grow, but at a much slower pace than in 2019 (+ 6% versus + 10.3%), a year that was marked by a sharp rise in stock prices.
Last year, households inflated their deposits and investments, health restrictions having led to a drop in consumption and the constitution of “forced” savings, in a context of income maintenance thanks to state aid. (partial unemployment, etc …). Companies (excluding the financial sector) also saw their assets grow significantly last year to + 11.2%, after + 4.3% in 2019, to 3.372 billion euros.
Fall in public administration assets
As for households, their non-financial wealth benefited from the rise in real estate prices, while their net financial wealth remained stable, the increase in their liabilities (loans guaranteed by the State, etc.), being compensated for. through the growth of their assets (outstanding shares, etc.). Likewise, the assets of financial companies increased by 23% to 682 billion euros. Conversely, general government assets fell by 39.9% to 189 billion euros, after an increase of 8.9% in 2019.
This is explained by the increase in loans that these administrations were forced to contract to finance the support measures for businesses and households, put in place to deal with the health crisis. In total, the national economic wealth continued to increase during the crisis, with an increase of 6.9%, after + 5.7% in 2019. It reached 17.682 billion euros, or 9.6 times the domestic product. net (gross domestic product minus the depreciation suffered by the stock of assets).