MIL-OSI Banking: Euro area economic and financial developments by institutional sector: first quarter of 2025

Source: European Central Bank

25 July 2025

• Euro area net saving decreased to €799 billion in four quarters to first quarter of 2025, compared with €813 billion one quarter earlier
• Household debt-to-income ratio decreased to 81.7% in first quarter of 2025 from 83.8% one year earlier
• Non-financial corporations’ debt-to-GDP ratio (consolidated measure) decreased to 67.2% in first quarter of 2025 from 68.4% one year earlier
• Share of net wealth held by wealthiest 10% of households stood at 57.3% in 2024, largely unchanged from previous years.

Total euro area economy

Euro area net saving decreased to €799 billion (6.5% of euro area net disposable income) in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025 compared with €813 billion in the four quarters to the previous quarter. Euro area net non-financial investment was broadly unchanged at €441 billion (3.6% of net disposable income), due to broadly unchanged net investment of all sectors (see Chart 1 and Table 1 in the Annex).

Euro area net lending to the rest of the world decreased to €388 billion (from €401 billion previously) reflecting the decreased net saving and broadly unchanged net non-financial investment. Non-financial corporations’ net lending decreased to €130 billion (1.1% of net disposable income) from €156 billion, while that of households increased to €598 billion (4.9% of net disposable income) from €588 billion. Financial corporations’ net lending (€123 billion, 1.0% of net disposable income) and general government net borrowing were broadly unchanged, the latter contributing negatively to euro area net lending (-€463 billion, -3.8% of net disposable income).

Data for euro area saving, investment and net lending to the rest of the world (Chart 1)

Households

Household financial investment increased at a broadly unchanged annual rate of 2.5% in the first quarter of 2025. Among its components, investment in currency and deposits grew at an unchanged rate of 3.0%. Investment in debt securities increased at a lower rate (3.0%, after 8.2%), while investment in shares and other equity grew at a higher rate (2.3%, after 1.8%) – the latter mainly due to investment fund shares.

Households purchased, in net terms, mainly debt securities issued by the rest of the world, general government, and other financial institutions (see Table 1 below and Table 2.2. in the Annex). Households were overall net sellers of listed shares, selling predominantly listed shares of MFIs, while buying listed shares issued by the rest of the world (i.e. shares issued by non-euro area residents). Households increased their purchases of euro area non-money market investment fund shares, and continued to purchase money market fund shares, while purchases of investment fund shares issued by the rest of the world decelerated.

The household debt-to-income ratio^[1] decreased, to 81.7% in the first quarter of 2025 from 83.8% in the first quarter of 2024. The household debt-to-GDP ratio decreased, to 51.2% in the first quarter of 2025 from 52.3% in the first quarter of 2024 (see Chart 2).

Data for financial investment and financing of households (Table 1)

Data for debt ratios of households and non-financial corporations (Chart 2)

Developments in household wealth distribution in 2024

The Distributional Wealth Accounts show that household net wealth continued to increase in 2024, while wealth inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient of net wealth, has remained broadly unchanged in recent years (see Chart 3). The share of household net wealth held by the wealthiest 10% of households stood at 57.3% at the end of 2024, largely unchanged from previous years.

The growth in net wealth across the various household wealth groups was primarily driven by valuation effects of both financial and non-financial assets, while contribution of net saving was stable but lower. Since the fourth quarter of 2019, net wealth has risen substantially across all wealth groups, with increases of 32% for the bottom 50% of the wealth distribution, 24% for the next 40%, and 26% for the top 10%. The developments varied between different asset classes, resulting in distinct portfolio dynamics across household wealth groups (see Chart 4). A significant portion of overall net wealth growth – more than half in each wealth group – was driven by increases in housing wealth. For the bottom 50% of households, deposits were the second-largest contributor (+9 percentage points), with smaller contributions from other wealth components. Among the next 40% of households, deposits also made a positive contribution (+4 percentage points) to net wealth growth, though this was largely offset by the negative effect of increasing mortgages (-3 percentage points). For the wealthiest 10% of households, the growth in net wealth was also supported by significant increases in business wealth (+6 percentage points) and investment fund shares (+3 percentage points).

Non-financial corporations

Financial transactions

2024 Q1

2024 Q2

2024 Q3

2024 Q4

2025 Q1

Financing*

0.8

0.9

1.0

0.9

1.3

Debt securities

2.0

2.9

2.5

1.5

1.6

Loans

1.6

1.4

1.4

1.3

2.0

Shares and other equity

0.3

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.5

Trade credits and advances

1.0

2.0

2.5

3.6

4.1

Financial investment**

1.7

1.8

2.0

1.8

2.0

Currency and deposits

0.2

2.6

1.7

2.4

2.1

Debt securities

10.9

8.1

3.9

2.1

4.1

Loans

3.9

3.7

3.2

2.6

2.8

Shares and other equity

1.1

0.9

1.2

0.7

0.4