How do households allocate their assets? Stylised facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey

Luc Arrondel, Laura Bartiloro (), Pirmin Fessler, Peter Lindner, Thomas Mathä, Cristiana Rampazzi (), Frédérique Savignac, Tobias Schmidt, Martin Schürz () and Philip Vermeulen

No 94, BCL working papers from Central Bank of Luxembourg

Abstract: Using the first wave of the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), a large micro-level dataset on households? balance sheets in 15 euro area countries, this paper explores how households allocate their assets. We derive stylised facts on asset participation as well as levels of asset holdings and investigate the systematic relationships between household characteristics and asset holding patterns. Real assets make up the bulk of total assets. Whereas ownership of the main residence varies strongly between countries, the value of the main residence tends to be the major asset for homeowners and represents a significant part of total assets in all countries. While almost all households hold safe financial assets, a low share of households holds risky assets. The ownership rates of all asset categories generally increase with wealth (and income). The significance of inheritances for home ownership and holding of other real estate is remarkable. We tentatively link differences in asset holding patterns across countries to differences in institutions, such as mortgage market institutions and house price-to-rent ratios.

Keywords: Household financial decisions; individual portfolio choice; real and financial assets; cross-country comparisons (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 D3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2014-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fmk
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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https://www.bcl.lu/fr/Recherche/publications/cahiers_etudes/94/BCLWP94.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: How Do Households Allocate Their Assets? Stylized Facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (2016)
Working Paper: How Do Households Allocate Their Assets? Stylized Facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (2016)
Working Paper: How Do Households Allocate Their Assets? Stylized Facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (2016)
Working Paper: How do households allocate their assets? Stylised facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (2014)
Working Paper: How do households allocate their assets? Stylised facts from the Eurosystem household finance and consumption survey (2014)
Working Paper: How do households allocate their assets? Stylized facts from the eurosystem household finance and consumption survey (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp094

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