According to an analysis by Bankitalia, based on ECB statistics, 5% of Italian households own 46% of the country's wealth. Wealth, about half of which, on average, consists of housing. But the percentage varies depending on the wealth of the household and comes to constitute three quarters of the below-average household wealth
Five per cent of households own 46% of wealth
The wealthiest 5%of Italian households own around 46% of total net wealth. The concentration of net wealth increased between 2010 and 2016 and then remained more or less stable; the most recent dynamics, characterised by a slight increase in 2021 and a decrease in 2022, seems to reflect mainly the trend in the prices of financial assets held by households belonging to the richest group.
In comparison with the other three largest euro area countries and with the euro area as a whole, the significant drop in median net wealth in the years following the sovereign debt crisis and its failure to recover in the subsequent period represent an Italian peculiarity
Based on the Gini index, Germany appears to be the country with the highest degree of inequality in terms of net wealth. Italy ranks lower than the euro area, similar to France and higher than Spain.
Italian household wealth composition
The composition of household portfolios by wealth class has changed significantly between 2010 and 2022. In a period characterised by a general decline in property prices, the weight of housing fell from 55.8% to 50.2% at the aggregate level; however, for the poorest households it increased by four percentage points.
The reduction in the weight of debt securities was particularly pronounced for the richest tenth, with a fall of more than seven percentage points, while the weight of equities, life insurance and mutual fund shares increased significantly. The increase in the weight of deposits was shared by all wealth classes considered, but more strongly by the middle one.
How much housing accounts for
According to statistics compiled by the ECB and analysed by the Bank of Italy, half of the wealth of Italians today is represented by housing. This percentage varies greatly according to wealth: housing accounts for 75% of wealth for below-average households, just under 70% for those belonging to the middle class, and then falls to just over a third for those belonging to the richest class. For the poorest households, deposits are the only significant component of financial wealth.
Analysing the evolution of wealth over the last twelve years, we find that in 2010 about half of the housing wealth was held by the middle class; by 2022 this had fallen to 45%, mainly to the benefit of the richest tenth; the share of housing owned by households below the median has remained stable over time at around 14%.
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