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The Financial Position of Irish Households

Author

Listed:
  • Lawless, Martina

    (Central Bank of Ireland)

  • Lydon, Reamonn

    (Central Bank of Ireland)

  • McIndoe-Calder

    (Central Bank of Ireland)

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel dataset on households’ income, assets and debts in Ireland: the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). The HFCS is an invaluable resource for policy makers, allowing for household-level analysis of the composition of wealth and debt, leverage and the debt-service burden. Highlights include: the household main residence accounts for the majority of most households’ gross wealth (48 per cent on average); financial assets account for a much smaller proportion of gross wealth on average (13 per cent); more than half of households hold some form of debt, with mortgage indebtedness proving to be a particularly heavy burden for younger cohorts; however, the mortgage repayment burden is more evenly spread across the age distribution, with younger borrowers benefiting from low interest rates and long mortgage terms; the median value of net wealth is €105,000, in line with other Euro area countries (€109,000); the top 20 per cent of households hold 70 per cent of net assets – again, similar to the Euro area as whole; in Ireland, the concentration of wealth at the top end of the distribution is driven by two factors: larger holdings of real assets and relatively smaller holdings of debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Lawless, Martina & Lydon, Reamonn & McIndoe-Calder, 2015. "The Financial Position of Irish Households," Quarterly Bulletin Articles, Central Bank of Ireland, pages 66-89, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbi:qtbart:y:2015:m:01:p:66-89
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    File URL: https://centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/publications/quarterly-bulletins/qb-archive/2015/qb1-15/quarterly-bulletin-no-1-2015.pdf?sfvrsn=14#page=68
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Martina Lawless & Donal Lynch, 2018. "Scenarios and Distributional Implications of a Household Wealth Tax in Ireland," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(02), pages 27-31, August.
    2. McInerney, Niall, 2019. "Macroprudential Policy, Banking and the Real Estate Sector," MPRA Paper 91777, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Le Blanc, Julia & Lydon, Reamonn, 2019. "Indebtedness and spending: What happens when the music stops?," Research Technical Papers 14/RT/19, Central Bank of Ireland.
    4. Tsiropoulos, Vasilis, 2018. "A Vulnerability Analysis for Mortgaged Irish Households," Financial Stability Notes 02-18, Central Bank of Ireland.
    5. Lydon, Reamonn & McCann, Fergal, 2017. "The income distribution and the Irish mortgage market," Economic Letters 05/EL/17, Central Bank of Ireland.
    6. Le Blanc, Julia, 2016. "Household Saving Behaviour in Ireland," Economic Letters 05/EL/16, Central Bank of Ireland.
    7. McArthur, Jenny & Robin, Enora & Smeds, Emilia, 2019. "Socio-spatial and temporal dimensions of transport equity for London's night time economy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 433-443.
    8. Petra Gerlach-Kristen & Rossana Merola, 2019. "Consumption and credit constraints: a model and evidence from Ireland," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 475-503, August.
    9. Lydon, Reamonn & McIndoe-Calder, Tara, 2017. "The great Irish (de)leveraging 2005-14," Working Paper Series 2062, European Central Bank.
    10. Tsiropoulos, Vasilis, 2018. "A Vulnerability Analysis for Mortgaged Irish Households," Financial Stability Notes 2/FS/18, Central Bank of Ireland.
    11. Lydon, Reamonn & Lozej, Matija, 2018. "Flexibility of new hires’ earnings in Ireland," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 112-127.
    12. repec:ces:ifodic:v:16:y:2018:i:2:p:50000000002758 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Anna Boldizsár & Zsuzsa Kékesi & Balázs Kóczián & Balázs Sisak, 2016. "The Wealth Position of Hungarian Households based on HFCS," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 15(4), pages 115-150.

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