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. published 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). trade, etc.), according to data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics.
Since 2018, wealth ownership has 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 resulted in an increase in asset ownership. , notice this note.
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 have both financial, real estate and professional assets, while more than half (57.6%) have financial and real estate assets.
In terms of financial products, the livret A remains the favorite investment of households, since 83.9% of them said they had one at the start of 2021, attracted 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.
Retirement : save by paying less tax. 11 contracts compared
On the other hand, life insurance continued during the health crisis to grow, which began 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 the ‘Insee, who sees it as the continuation of a longer trend.
Pension 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 an important place in the heritage of households, underlines INSEE, since 61.2% of households have real estate, a stable proportion 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.