Status: 10/14/2021 6:18 p.m.
Despite relaxed corona measures and a renewed desire to consume, Germans are getting richer on average. Financial wealth jumps to a record high. The stock market plays a major role in this.
Although the corona restrictions have been relaxed and people in Germany are enjoying buying again, they have kept their money together. At the same time, they benefited from the rise in stock exchange prices. After breaking the seven trillion euros mark for the first time in the first three months of 2021, financial assets have now climbed to another record high.
According to the Deutsche Bundesbank, household assets from cash, securities, bank deposits and claims against insurance companies rose to 7,325 billion euros in the second quarter. That is 159 billion euros more than at the end of March, announced the central bank today. Economists expect a further increase in the course of the year. However, the Bundesbank data does not reveal how the enormous sum is distributed.
Cash and bank deposits are still the most popular
The gradual easing of restrictions to combat the corona pandemic boosted consumer spending in the second quarter. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the development of the savings rate – i.e. the amount of savings measured by income – has recently been down. Still, people kept putting money on the high edge.
Cash and bank deposits in current and overnight accounts, for example, continued to be the largest item at a good 2910 billion euros at the end of June. Around 52 billion euros were added in the second quarter. Savers do not earn anything because of the slack interest rates and now often have to pay on top even for small amounts, but can quickly access their money if necessary and hardly have any risk.
Germans dare to go public
At the same time, savers in Germany who are considered to be more risk averse are increasingly daring to go to the stock market. “Liquid investments or those perceived as low-risk are still very popular overall, but private households have been increasing their exposure to the capital market for years,” said the central bank.
In the second quarter, for example, private households bought investment fund shares for 24 billion euros and shares for seven billion euros. According to the Bundesbank, valuation gains on shares and investment fund shares played a major role in the growth in financial assets in the second quarter.
Last year, the number of shareholders climbed to the highest level in almost 20 years, according to the Deutsches Aktieninstitut (DAI). Accordingly, 12.35 million Germans – and thus one in six – owned shares in entrepreneurs or funds, almost 2.7 million more than a year earlier. The number of stock savers was last higher in 2001.
Eight trillion euros soon?
According to private households invested somewhat less money than in the previous quarters in insurance and other pension products. Here inventories increased by around 20 billion euros to around 2529 billion euros.
DZ Bank expects a further increase in financial assets in the current year. According to DZ Bank economist Michael Stappel, people are likely to save less than in 2020 thanks to the increasing relaxation of the corona restrictions. Nevertheless, financial assets should rise to 7.6 trillion euros thanks to increases in the value of stocks, funds and certificates, it said in one Analysis of the top cooperative institute published in the summer. In the coming year, a further increase to just under eight trillion euros is to be expected.
In the second quarter, too, people in Germany used the low interest rates to borrow money. After deducting debts, net financial assets rose by around 130 billion euros compared with the first quarter to 5336 billion euros. Real estate, which has seen strong increases in value for years, is not included in the data.