Swedes' assets shed billions in value

Swedish households’ net wealth fell by 6.6 percent, or 185 billion kronor ($24.3 billion), during the third quarter of 2008, with losses from shares and funds accounting for 45 percent of the drop.

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Swedes’ financial assets shed 150 billion kronor in value, while households’ overall debt load increased by 35 billion kronor.

While Swedes’ borrowing increased by 35 billion kronor, 34 billion of which consisted of mortgage loans, the figure marked a significant drop from the 44 billion and 48 billion borrowed in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Sweden’s overall household debt burden reached 2.4 trillion kronor as of September, 55 percent of which consisted of mortgage loans, while bank loans made up 31 percent and student loans made up 8 percent.

Altogether, Swedish household wealth came to 2.6 trillion kronor.

Net deposits in Swedish bank accounts reached 18 billion kronor during the third quarter, a precipitous drop from the 35 billion and 30 billion kronor measured in the the corresponding quarters of 2007 and 2006, respectively.

At the same time, there has been a surge of investment in National Debt Savings accounts, which increased by 6 billion kronor during the quarter.

Swedes net holdings in shares fell by 7 billion kronor during the same three month period, while bond and money market fund holdings had a net increase of 1 billion kronor.