When it comes to money, the French do not change their habits.

The Covid-19 crisis has in fact 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, such as a savings account or life insurance, 61.2% owned real estate and 16.2% professional assets (companies, goodwill, 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 ".

More than half of households have financial and real estate assets

Household savings increased sharply during the health crisis, mainly for the wealthiest, due to the drop in their spending (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 account 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.

The French continue to turn to life insurance

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.), the latter rate having increased by 0.9 points since 2018.

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