After two years of pandemic, uncertainty and sluggish economy, the health crisis has finally had little impact on the composition of household wealth, reports an INSEE note published on Tuesday.
The French still favor financial products and real estate, even if the taste for life insurance and retirement savings has increased since 2018, according to an INSEE note published on Tuesday.
At the beginning of 2021, 89.2% of households living in France held financial products (savings accounts, life insurance, etc.), 61.2% owned real estate and 16.2% professional assets (companies, funds of commerce, etc.), according to data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics.
"Since 2018, asset holdings have remained stable overall, as have its main components (real estate and financial), while the increase in household assets observed during the health crisis could have resulted in an increase in asset holdings. assets,” notes this note.
Savings on the rise during the crisis
Household savings increased sharply during the health crisis, mainly 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.
Read alsoThe poorest households have spent their savings accumulated during the crisis
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.
Read alsoThe current account, the preferred investment of the French
On the other hand, life insurance continued during the health crisis to progress started in 2010: 40.5% of households had a life insurance policy at the start of 2021, i.e. 1.3 points more than at the start of 2018, notes l 'INSEE, which sees it as the “continuation of a longer trend”.
Retirement savings (including popular savings plan) also increased, with 16.4% of households holding such a product at the start of 2021, i.e. 0.9 points more than at the start of 2018.
Finally, real estate continues to have an “important place” in 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 another dwelling (secondary residence, rental accommodation, etc.), this share having increased by 0.9 points since 2018.
