| Tobias Seifried
|
08.09.2024
According to a recent survey, more than half of people in this country consider their own financial education to be good. The high-flying savings accounts are likely to end soon due to interest rate cuts. The average loan amount borrowed has recently risen to more than 135,000 euros.
As the current savings and credit forecast from Erste Bank shows, more than half of Austrians (56 percent) rate their own financial knowledge as “good” (44 percent) or “very good” (12 percent). A third (33 percent) rate themselves as mediocre, eight percent as “rather not good”, and three percent even as “not good at all”. Men (61 percent) therefore see themselves as better equipped in terms of financial education than women (52 percent). Gerda Holzinger-BurgstallerCEO of Erste Bank Oesterreich, said: “We see that the numerous initiatives in financial education over the last few years are paying off.” But we must not let up, because there is still a lot of catching up to do and the topic is too important: “A well-founded approach to managing your own finances is the basis for a self-determined life.”
Securities in greater demand year-on-year
The survey also shows that the savings account remains the most popular form of investment among Austrians, with 55 percent using it. However, the steep increase in popularity of the last few quarters is over. Not least thanks to the increase in interest rates, 60 percent used the classic savings account in the third quarter of 2023, and even 61 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. That has changed with the recent interest rate cuts, says Holzinger-Burgstaller: “The Austrians have certainly recognized the increased interest rate environment and taken advantage of it. With the ECB’s first interest rate cut, alternative asset classes are once again coming into focus for many investors.”
The survey confirms this, as securities (35 percent) such as stocks, funds and bonds have become more popular with Austrians and have increased by three percentage points year-on-year. There are hardly any changes in building society savings (35 percent, -1 PP), pension provision (28 percent, -1 PP), gold (18 percent, -1 PP) or real estate (15 percent, -2 PP). One in five people are not planning to invest any money in the next twelve months. On average, Austrians plan to put aside around 4,000 euros in the next twelve months – a decrease of almost 35 percent year-on-year.
Trend towards higher financing volumes
According to the survey, 35 percent (-1 percentage point/pp) of Austrians planned a major purchase in the second quarter, from buying a new car to investing in their own home. The younger age groups up to 29 years (40 percent, -2 PP) and 30 to 49 years (42 percent, +2 PP) in particular are keen to invest. Regardless of age, nine out of ten Austrians (92 percent, +5 PP) want to finance these investments through their own savings, according to the financial institution. The higher financing costs are also still noticeable, as the number of those who want to obtain the necessary funds through a bank loan or a building society loan has fallen to twelve percentage points (-4 PP). Eight percent do not pay themselves and four percent plan to borrow money privately.
When financing through a loan or credit, the average loan amount borrowed is around EUR 135,600, almost 13 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2024. An increase can be seen over the course of the year: after the average planned loan amount fell to EUR 101,800 in the third quarter of 2023, it has risen continuously since then, first to EUR 105,400 in the fourth quarter of 2023 and further to EUR 117,300 in the first quarter of 2024.
