The increase in household wealth observed during the health crisis has not translated into greater asset holdings.
The crisis has had little effect on the composition of household wealth, which still favors financial products and real estate, even if the taste for life insurance and retirement savings has increased since 2018, according to a note from INSEE. released on Tuesday. At the beginning of 2021, 89.2% of households living in France held financial products (savings account, life insurance, etc.), 61.2% owned real estate and 16.2% professional assets (companies, mutual funds). commerce, etc.), according to data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics. “Since 2018, wealth holdings have remained broadly stable, as have its main components (real estate and financial), while the increase in household wealth observed during the health crisis could have translated into an increase in asset holdingsnotes this note.
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Household savings have indeed increased sharply during the health crisis, in particular for the wealthiest, due to the drop in their expenditure (leisure, tourism, etc.) due to health restrictions. This additional savings accumulated compared to what it would have been in the absence of a health crisis has been estimated at around 170 billion euros by the Banque de France. In detail, 12.6% of households own both financial, real estate and professional assets, while more than half (57.6%) own financial and real estate assets. In terms of financial products, the livret A remains the preferred investment of households, since 73.5% of them declared having one at the start of 2021, seduced in particular by its risk-free nature. This share is stabilizing after a decrease between 2015 and 2018 due to the fall in interest rates which made its yield less attractive.
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On the other hand, life insurance continued during the health crisis its progress started in 2010: 40.5% of households had a life insurance contract at the start of 2021, i.e. 1.3 points more than at the start of 2018, notes l ‘Insee, who sees in it the “continuation of a longer trend“. Retirement savings also increased, with 16.4% of households holding such a product at the start of 2021, i.e. 0.9 points more than three years earlier. Finally, real estate continues to have aimportant placein household assets, underlines INSEE, since 61.2% of households have real estate assets, a proportion that has been stable for ten years. 57.5% own their main residence and 19.2% own other accommodation (secondary residence, rental accommodation, etc.), this ownership of other accommodation having increased by 0.9 points since 2018.