Property boom boosts Germans' wealth - Bundesbank

Property boom boosts Germans' wealth - Bundesbank
FILE PHOTO: The skyline with its financial district is photographed on early evening in Frankfurt, Germany, October 5, 2018. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach Copyright KAI PFAFFENBACH(Reuters)
Copyright KAI PFAFFENBACH(Reuters)
By Reuters
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A boom in property prices is boosting private wealth in Germany but it remains unevenly distributed across the country, a Bundesbank study showed on Monday.

The net wealth of the median German household was 70,800 euros in 2017, a 17 percent increase from the previous survey three years earlier, largely due to a jump in the value of primary residences.

The study illustrates some of the effects of the European Central Bank's ultra-easy monetary policy, which has helped fuel a German property boom by depressing borrowing costs.

This policy has long been criticised in the country for bringing down yields on fixed-income investments popular with local savers.

Distribution of net wealth in Germany - https://tmsnrt.rs/2XgQNWf

But measures of inequality painted a mixed picture: The gap between the richest and poorest quarter of the population widened even as the share of total wealth in the hands of the top 10 percent shrank slightly.

Richest 10 percent in Germany - https://tmsnrt.rs/2VJnkDW

The gap between East and West Germany also remained wide.

Germany: West vs East - https://tmsnrt.rs/2VFR70d

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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