Savings Barometer, 3rd quarter 2020
Level of household savings activity remains high in the third quarter
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2020-11-19 9.30
Households’ financial savings amounted to SEK 44 billion in the third quarter of 2020, which is more than in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Savings levels in funds, mainly in equity funds, was high for the second consecutive quarter. Levels of net deposits in bank accounts, which were high in the two first quarters of 2020, were considerably lower in the third quarter.
New savings in financial assets amounted to SEK 103 billion, while debts increased by SEK 59 billion in the third quarter of 2020, which resulted in SEK 44 billion in financial savings. In the seasonal variation in households’ financial savings, savings in the third quarter are normally lower than in the first and second quarter. Although the level of financial savings was high in the third quarter of 2020, it was SEK 115 billion lower than in the previous quarter. Households’ savings in the third quarter 2020 was SEK 32 billion higher than in the corresponding period in 2019.
Households continued to purchase funds
In the third quarter of 2020, households made net purchases of mutual fund units amounting to SEK 20 billion. In the past two quarters, households’ net purchases of funds amounted to SEK 39 billion, which largely corresponds to the large net sales in the first quarter of 2020. In the past ten years, households have made average net purchases of mutual fund units for SEK 7 billion per quarter.
Households’ net purchases of equity funds amounted to SEK 14 billion in the third quarter of 2020, while net purchases of other funds amounted to SEK 5 billion and net purchases of foreign-registered funds amounted to SEK 1 billion. Households’ net sales of bond and money market funds amounted to SEK 0.5 billion.
Net deposits on bank accounts were low
In the third quarter of 2020, savings in bank accounts amounted to SEK 16 billion, which is low compared with the record deposits in the last two quarters. In 2020, households’ net deposits in bank accounts have been exceptionally large. In the first three quarters of the year, households’ net savings in bank accounts amounted to SEK 176 billion, which is twice as much as in the first three quarters of 2019.
Annual growth rate of loans rose marginally
Households’ net borrowing, that is, new loans minus amortisations, amounted to SEK 57 billion in the third quarter of 2020, which is SEK 7 billion more than in the corresponding period a year ago. The annual growth rate of loans was 5.2 percent in the third quarter, which is 0.1 percentage point more than in the previous quarters of 2020. Households’ loans, which consist primarily of loans in bank and housing credit institutions and student loans, amounted to SEK 4 602 billion in the third quarter of 2020.
Households’ tenant-owned apartments increased in value
Households’ net purchases of new tenant-owned apartments amounted to SEK 9 billion, which is SEK 3 billion less than in the same quarter a year ago and the lowest level in a single quarter in the last four years. New tenant-owned apartments consist of apartments with changing rights of tenancy to tenant-owned apartments and newly produced tenant-owned apartments. Households’ assets in apartments amounted to SEK 3 054 billion at the end of the third quarter. The value of households’ tenant-owned apartments increased by 4.7 percent in the third quarter, which means that in all, prices increased in the first three quarters of 2020, despite the 1.4 percent drop in the second quarter.
Households’ ownership of tenant-owned apartments is a financial asset and is included in the Savings Barometer. One- or two-dwelling buildings with ownership rights are not included, since they constitute real assets. Information about households’ total assets in housing is available in the National Wealth. Read more about National Wealth under More information.
Financial net wealth increased
Households’ financial net wealth rose by 7.1 percent and amounted to SEK 12 025 billion at the end of the third quarter. A strong contributing factor was the upturn in the stock market during the third quarter; the stock market increased by 12.7 percent according to the Affärsvärlden General Index.
Definitions and explanations
Financial savings is calculated as the difference between transactions in financial assets and transactions in liabilities.
No major revisions or methodology changes are published in the Savings Barometer. These are published, instead, in the Financial Accounts, in which there is more time for calculations and reconciliation with other sectors, and in which revision documentation is published. However, minor revisions can occur due to, for instance, revised primary statistics.
In connection with the publication of the Savings Barometer in the third quarter of 2020, the entire time series was updated from the first quarter 1996 onwards with the revisions introduced in the Financial Accounts’ publication on 22 September. Retained dividend payments were revised in the latest publication of the Financial Accounts. Under the European system of accounts, ESA 2010, retained dividend payments are recorded as purchases of investment fund shares. This adjustment affects transactions in investment funds and indirectly also in other financial instruments, such as premium pensions. This revision was introduced as from 2010 for holdings in foreign-registered funds, and as from 2017, for holdings in Swedish-registered funds.
More detailed descriptions of major revisions are contained in the statistical news on Financial Accounts:
Financial accounts, quarterly and annual
More information: The National Wealth
The National Wealth, which contains annual data on non-financial and financial assets, is also published in connection with the publication of the Financial Accounts. Financial assets and liabilities are collected from Financial accounts and are thereby consistent with the values published in Financial Accounts.
For more information, see:
Nationalförmögenheten och nationella balansräkningar (pdf)
Statistical database;
Next publishing will be
2021-02-18 at 09:30.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.