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

5 July 2022

• Households' financial investment increased at annual rate of 3.1% in first quarter of 2022, after 3.4% in fourth quarter of 2021
• Non-financial corporations' financing grew at higher rate of 3.2% (after 3.0%)
• Non-financial corporations' gross operating surplus increased at lower annual rate of 4.2% (after 6.2%)Chart 1. Household financing and financial and non-financial investment

Chart 1

Household financing and financial and non-financial investment

(annual growth rates)

Data for household financing and financial and non-financial investment (Chart 1)

Chart 2

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

(annual growth rates)

Data for NFC gross-operating surplus, non-financial investment and financing (Chart 2)

Households

Household gross disposable income increased at an annual rate of 5.0% in the first quarter of 2022 (after 4.2% in the previous quarter). Compensation of employees grew at a higher rate of 7.8% (after 6.2%), while gross operating surplus and mixed income of the self-employed increased at a lower rate of 5.9% (after 7.7%). Household consumption expenditure grew at a higher rate of 13.9% (after 10.4%).

The household gross saving rate was 15.7% in the first quarter of 2022, compared with 17.3% in the previous quarter (calculated from four-quarter sums).

Household gross non-financial investment (which refers mainly to housing) increased at an annual rate of 17.4% in the first quarter of 2022, down from 18.5% in the previous quarter. Loans to households, the main component of household financing, increased at a broadly unchanged rate of 4.2%.

Household net worth grew at a lower annual rate of 5.3% in the first quarter of 2022 (after 7.2% in the previous quarter). This deceleration was driven mainly by valuation losses in financial assets. The growth of net worth was predominantly due to high valuation gains in non-financial assets, followed by financial and non-financial investment. Housing wealth, the main component of non-financial assets, grew at a higher rate of 8.3% (after 7.8%). The household debt-to-income ratio was broadly stable at 96.4%.

Non-financial corporations

Net value added by NFCs increased at a higher annual rate of 10.1% in the first quarter of 2022, after 8.2% in the previous quarter. Gross operating surplus grew at a lower rate of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2022, after 6.2% in the previous quarter, while net property income (defined in this context as property income receivable minus interest and rent payable) increased. As a result gross entrepreneurial income (broadly equivalent to cash flow) increased at a lower rate of 6.9% (after 9.8%).^[1]

NFCs’ gross non-financial investment increased at a lower annual rate of 13.7% (after 15.5% in the previous quarter).^[2] NFCs’ financial investment grew at an unchanged rate of 5.3%. Among its components, loans granted grew at a broadly unchanged rate of 7.5%. Compared to the previous quarter, investment in currency and deposits, as well as shares and other equity, grew at lower rates, while other assets (mainly trade credits) increased.

Financing of NFCs increased at a higher rate of 3.2% (after 3.0% in the previous quarter), following the increase of the growth rate of financing via loans (4.8% after 4.5%)^[3], debt securities (5.6% after 5.4%) and trade credits and advances (13.4% after 11.7%). NFCs’ equity financing grew at a broadly unchanged rate of 1.0%.

Owing mainly to the increase in economic activity, NFC's debt-to-GDP ratio (consolidated measure) decreased to 78.8% in the first quarter of 2022, from 82.7% in the same quarter of the previous year; the non-consolidated, wider debt measure declined to 142.7% from 147.2%.

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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.
• 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.