Households tightened purse strings in third quarter of last year – The Irish Times

Households saved more of their money in the third quarter of last year than in any quarter since the beginning of 2023, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

The seasonally adjusted household saving rate in the period was 14.7 per cent, which was higher than the average since the start of 2023.

Households can use their savings to add to their wealth in the form of real assets, which mainly take the form of new homes, and financial assets such as bank deposits.

Households saved €8.7 billion in the quarter, the CSO said, and spent €4.5 billion. They also increased assets in pension funds by €1 billion.

Figures from the Central Bank show that households’ net deposits into banks in Ireland rose by €2.5 billion over the quarter.

Loan liabilities of households to banks, mainly in the form of mortgages, were up €1.7 billion in the three months, meaning households borrowed more than they repaid.

Households’ financial assets also include other items such as life assurance funds and shares. Overall, the CSO said households added €1 to their wealth for every €7 of disposable income in July, August, and September last year.

The data showed the Government deficit was provisionally estimated to be €200 million in the quarter, which down from the surplus of €2.4 billion in the previous quarter. The CSO said the change was largely due to net capital transfers of €14 billion received in Apple money in the third quarter of 2024 arising from a Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruling.

There has been a Government surplus in 12 of the 16 quarters since the last quarter of 2021 whereas there was a deficit in 12 of the 16 quarters before that, going back to the last quarter of 2017.

For the economy as a whole, unadjusted gross domestic product was 10.8 per cent higher than a year earlier, in part due to higher value added in industry.

The CSO noted that most of the additional value added flowed out of the domestic economy to corporations’ owners abroad in the form of profits, but gross national income, which strips out multinationals, increased by 2.5 per cent.

There was a current account balance of €14 billion in the quarter, which was down from €20 billion a year earlier.

The lower current account balance was in part due to higher imports of intellectual property that raised capital investment to €40 billion, and which should increase the value added here in future quarters, the CSO said.