The wealth of Italy’s institutional sectors

The wealth estimates compiled by Istat and the Bank of Italy, released today, provide a comprehensive overview of the assets held by Italy’s institutional sectors and of how they have changed over time, also compared with other advanced economies.

At the end of 2022, the net wealth of Italian households stood at €10,421 billion. Compared with 2021, it decreased by 1.7 per cent at nominal values, after three years of growth; the decline in real terms, computed by using the index of consumer prices as a deflator, was more marked (-12.5 per cent). The ratio of net wealth to gross disposable income dropped from 8.7 to 8.1, returning to 2005 levels.

The increase in non-financial assets in 2022 (+2.1 per cent) was primarily reflected by the rise in the value of dwellings, which recorded its highest growth rate since 2009; the share of this component in total gross wealth reached 46.3 per cent. Financial assets shrank by 5.2 per cent, largely due to the reduction in the value of shares and of asset management products.

Breaking a downward trend underway since nearly a decade, debt securities owned by households returned to positive growth, mostly those issued by general government. On the contrary, the increase in deposits was moderate, after the strong accumulation of the previous three years. The rise in financial liabilities (+2.8 per cent) was mainly driven by loans.