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Total net wealth grows in Switzerland as the rest of Europe continues to struggle

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As economic gloom begins to once again engulf most of Europe, Switzerland’s central bank has released data which shows a significant growth in the household wealth of its citizens.

Despite recent news suggesting that one in four people in Switzerland are actually broke after paying their bills, the figures from the central bank show that the total net worth of households has risen by 5.2% to the end of 2013, reaching more than $3.3 trillion.

The Swiss National Bank, who released the figures, have put this down to rising real estate prices and overall capital gains.

The total value of real estate owned by households increased by CHF 77 billion to CHF 1,739 billion.

The figure, which include financial assets and real estate, less liabilities, has risen in every year since 2004, with the exception of 2008.

According to the bank the majority of liabilities are mortgage loans, which account for around 90% of total liabilities, and increased by 3.3% to reach CHF 766 billion. Consumer loans remained unchanged at CHF 15 billion.

The full release can be found on the Swiss National Bank’s website: http://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/reference/pre_20141120/source/pre_20141120.en.pdf