Rue de la Banque no. 19: Households’ real estate and financial asset holdings: what differences in investment behaviour within the euro area?

Household wealth differs significantly across euro area countries, both in terms of real estate asset holdings and of the composition of financial portfolios. This issue of Rue de la Banque summarises the initial studies on the composition of household wealth conducted using the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey. These show that the differences in investment behaviour are explained by individual household characteristics (age, qualifications, income, household composition, inheritance), the effects of which vary according to the economic, institutional and financial environment of each country.