AUGUST 2022 31 MONTHLY STATISTICAL BULLETIN The wealth of households in 2020 The Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) was conducted between October 2020 and February 2021. Carrying out the HFCS during the pandemic crisis led to methodological changes with possible implications on the results, which should be read with due caution. According to the 2020 Household Finance and Consumption Survey: • Concerning the situation before the pandemic: » 69.2% of households in Portugal considered their financial situation to be similar; » 27.8% considered that it had worsened; » 3.0% considered that it had improved; • Compared to the previous edition of the same survey, conducted in 2017: » The mean net wealth per household increased by 19.9% in real terms (to €200.4 thousand) and median net wealth increased by 31.3% (to €101.2 thousand); » The average value of debt, considering households with and without debt, remained at around €25 thousand, and the median value remained null since the percentage of households without debt is above 50%; » Debt ratios, which measure the ability of households to service debt in the short term and their financial vulnerability, have fallen; In the case of the debt-to-income ratio, from 14.4% in 2017 to 12.9% in 2020, mainly reflecting the decline in interest rates to historically low levels; In the case of the debt-to-asset ratio, the reduction largely reflects the appreciation of real estate; » Inequality among households decreased slightly, according to indicators such as the ratio between the 90th and 10th percentiles of net wealth; the Gini index; and the share of wealth held by the households with the highest net wealth; • Portuguese households have a clear preference for owning their home: » Only 2.0% of households living in their own home would prefer to have rented; » 63.5% of families who rent the house where they live would prefer to have bought it.
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