Households and non-financial corporations in the euro area: fourth quarter of 2022

5 April 2023

• Households' financial investment increased at an annual rate of growth of 2.2% in fourth quarter of 2022, after 2.5% in third quarter
• Non-financial corporations' financing grew at an annual rate of 2.1%, after 3.2%
• Non-financial corporations' gross operating surplus increased at an annual rate of 10.9%, after 8.9%

Chart 1

Household financing and financial and non-financial investment

(Annual growth rates)

Chart 2

NFC gross-operating surplus, non-financial investment and financing

(annual growth rates)

Households

Household gross disposable income increased at an annual rate of growth of 8.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022 (after 7.2% in the previous quarter). Compensation of employees grew at a higher rate of 6.8% (after 5.9%), and gross operating surplus and mixed income of the self-employed increased at a higher rate of 7.0% (after 5.8%). Household consumption expenditure grew at an unchanged rate of 9.6%.

The household gross saving rate in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 14.0%, compared with 14.3% in the previous quarter.

Household gross non-financial investment (which refers mainly to housing) increased at an annual growth rate of 5.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after 10.9% in the previous quarter. Loans to households, the main component of household financing, increased at a lower rate of 3.7% (after 4.2%).

Household financial investment grew at an annual growth rate of 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after 2.5% in the previous quarter. Among its components, currency and deposits increased at a lower rate of 3.7% (after 4.0%), and shares and other equity also grew at a lower rate of 0.4% (after 1.4%). Pension schemes increased at a lower rate of 1.1% (after 2.1%), while life insurance grew at a higher rate of 1.6% (after 1.2%). Investment in debt securities increased at a higher rate of 19.5% (after 7.4%).

Household net worth grew at an annual rate of 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after 3.1% in the previous quarter. The deceleration was mainly due to housing wealth, the main component of non-financial assets, which grew at a lower rate of 6.8% (after 9.2%). The household debt-to-income ratio decreased to 93.0% in the fourth quarter of 2022 from 95.8% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Non-financial corporations

Net value added by NFCs increased at an annual growth rate of 9.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after 8.6% in the previous quarter. Gross operating surplus grew at an annual rate of 10.9%, after 8.9% in the previous quarter, while net property income (defined in this context as property income receivable minus interest and rent payable) grew by 15.6%, after 21.5%. As a result gross entrepreneurial income (broadly equivalent to cash flow) increased at a lower rate of 9.1%, after 9.8%.^[1]

NFCs’ gross non-financial investment increased at an annual rate of 5.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after 30.3% in the previous quarter (in the third quarter a large acquisition of intellectual property products was recorded).^[2] NFCs’ financial investment grew at an annual rate of 3.2%, compared with 4.6% in the previous quarter. Among its components, loans granted increased at a lower rate of 3.5% (after 4.8%), and investment in shares and other equity grew at a lower rate of 1.9% (after 2.9%).

Financing of NFCs increased at a lower annual rate of 2.1% (after 3.2%), reflecting lower growth rates of financing via loans^[3] (4.4% after 6.0%), shares and other equity (1.0% after 1.5%), trade credits (4.2% after 7.4%) and debt securities (1.3% after 3.2%).

NFCs’ debt-to-GDP ratio (consolidated measure) decreased to 74.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022, from 79.1% in the same quarter of the previous year; the non-consolidated, wider debt measure decreased to 136.5% from 142.4%.

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Notes

• The annual growth rate of non-financial transactions and of outstanding assets and liabilities (stocks) is calculated as the percentage change between the value for a given quarter and that value recorded four quarters earlier. The annual growth rates used for financial transactions refer to the total value of transactions during the year in relation to the outstanding stock a year before.
• The euro area and national financial accounts data of non-financial corporations and households are available in an interactive dashboard.
• Hyperlinks in the main body of the statistical release are dynamic. The data they lead to may therefore change with subsequent data releases as a result of revisions. Figures shown in annex tables are a snapshot of the data as at the time of the current release.