Average Spaniard 25% richer than last year

Spanish household assets have risen above €1 trillion for the first time since 2006

For the first time since Spain’s economic crisis hit in 2008, combined net wealth for Spanish households topped €1 trillion in 2013 – a 25 per cent increase in the space of just one year.

Figures from the Bank of Spain published this week reveal that the overall assets held by the Spanish population grew to €1.04 trillion, once adjustments were made for all outstanding debts. The last time that figure climbed above one trillion was in the halcyon days of 2006, when Spain’s economy was booming…

Overall, Spanish households have a collective wealth of €1.89 trillion (including debts), which in itself is a rise of 9.1 per cent since last year. In extricating one from the other, the Bank of Spain also concluded that the gap between assets and debt is now also wider than ever before, reaching 25.6 per cent at the end of last year. Indeed, debt levels are now at their lowest since 2006 too, falling 6.1 per cent in 2013 to just €846.9 million, despite thousands of homeowners still struggling with debilitating mortgages issued during headier pre-recession times. Spain’s national news agency Europa Press reported that many Spaniards had taken the global economic crisis as a warning sign to pay down their debts as quickly as possible, hence the low debt levels recorded by the Bank of Spain.

As a result of economic uncertainty both home and abroad, Spaniards have been increasingly canny with their cash. While the majority of Spanish households’ wealth is tied up in deposits and cash (approximately €882.1 million), Spaniards are taking to the stock market to increase their assets: €664.5 million in shares is held by Spanish nationals – a figure that represents a massive 34.1 per cent increase in just one year, indicating a willingness to take minor risks on securing a more stable economic footing.

The implosion of Spain’s construction sector in 2008 – and subsequent real estate market deflation – plunged the country into a deep recession, adding millions to dole queues throughout the country and causing thousands to default on their mortgages.

Now officially clear of recession, Spain’s economy is slowly on the mend. Despite unemployment remaining lodged over 26 per cent and average wages falling below 2006 levels, there is a distinct confidence flooding back into the Spanish workforce. Job creation has returned, fuelled by a solid export sector that has swelled to one-third of the overall output, helping to drag the economy back to competitiveness and putting it on course to expand by one per cent in 2014.

And with the profitable summer season right around the corner, Spanish households could well add even more wealth by the end of the year.