- Political stability
- Fiscal affairs
- Monetary policy
- Regulated markets
- Privatisation
- Macroeconomic developments
submited on 28.09.2011 in category Regulated markets | Fiscal affairs | Privatisation | Political stability | Monetary policy | Macroeconomic developments
Industry Watch distributed among its subscribers the quarterly report “Personal Assets: Household Financial Wealth and the Housing Market, Q3 2011". Here are the highlights of the report.
The household financial wealth increased to BGN 41 billion as of end-June 2011. Compared to the previous quarter, notably increased the bank deposits (by BGN 380 mln.) and pension savings (by BGN 165 mln.). Direct investments in stocks declined, while investments in mutual funds remained virtually unchanged.
Households succeeded in increasing their savings while reducing their indebtedness towards financial institutions by 3% compared to the second quarter of 2010. Most noticeably shrank the debt to leasing companies (by 20% annually), while indebtedness towards the banking system fell by 1% year over year.
Bank deposits continue to be the main household asset, constituting 69% of the population’s financial assets. Another big chunk of the household financial balance are the savings with private pension funds, reaching 10% of the financial wealth.
During the last few years we witnessed a visible lengthening of the maturity structure of the bank deposits. The share of deposits with maturity between 6 and 12 months expanded tangibly. The stretching of the maturity of bank deposits is attributable both to the higher interest rates on longer-term deposits and to banks‘ attracting savings with longer investment horizon which would have otherwise been invested in property or in stocks.
After several months of constant deceleration, the growth rate of housing credit stabilized – around 2.5% annually as of July 2011. The purchasing power of the average wage, measured in square meters of housing property, kept on growing – by 17% year over year in Q2 2011, reflecting the persistent housing price deflation and the steady wage increase. Although housing prices kept on falling in the second quarter of 2011, for the first time since the outbreak of the crisis there has been an increase of the registered sales and mortgages on a 12-month rolling basis (Please, refer to the chart). The renewal of market activity signals that housing prices will stabilize in the next few quarters.
The report represents a periodic analysis of the financial sector, the household wealth and the housing market. The analysis is based on economic methodology, which may be used by financial professionals, macroeconomists, and specialized business analysts.
The comprehensive report is issued quarterly. Users of the electronic format have access to ready-to-print document as well as data series in spread sheets.