In the third quarter of 2024, portfolio investments of Dutch households reached a new record level of €190.4 billion, new figures from DNB show. This is around 2% up from the previous all-time high recorded in the preceding quarter. Growth was driven mainly by value increases of investment fund shares.
© iStock
The investment fund shares grew by €3.9 billion, mainly on the back of highly performing US equities in which the funds invest.
Direct household positions in equities rose comparatively less steeply, by €171 million, or 0.3%, to €64.1 billion. This growth was driven by net purchases.
At De Nederlandsche Bank, we independently compile statistics on the Dutch financial sector and economy. This article is based on these statistics. More information on our statistics and all dashboards can be found on our Statistics homepage.
The value increases of investment fund shares can be attributed mainly to equity funds. Among investment funds, this category showed the strongest growth, at 4.4%, to €66.1 billion.
Mixed funds, which invest in a mix of equities and bonds, grew by 3,0%. Bond funds rose by 0.6%.
Dutch households indirectly invest in equity markets across the globe through equity funds and mixed funds. These funds’ largest positions are in the buoyant US equity market – both the Dow Jones Index (+7.9%) and the S&P500 (+5.2%) rose sharply over the third quarter.
Alongside investment funds, Dutch households hold listed equities, predominantly of firms listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange.
In spite of price declines in the Dutch stock exchange (-2,1% quarter-on-quarter), the total value of the Dutch households’ equity portfolio went up slightly in the third quarter to reach €64.1 billion. This growth was caused by purchases of private individuals, whose combined additional direct investments in equities amounted to €480 million.
The biggest fall in value was recorded by the Shell share, which is the most popular equity investment among Dutch households. They currently hold €4.5 billion in Shell equities, against €5 billion three months earlier. Dutch households likewise suffered severe losses in the chip industry. Weaker prices of shares in ASML, BE Semiconductor Industries and ASM International were responsible for over €600 million in equity portfolio losses.
The total securities holdings of Dutch households consisted of listed shares, investment fund positions and bonds totalling €190.4 billion in the third quarter of 2024. By comparison, Dutch households keep far more funds in savings accounts with Dutch banks (€478.8 billion) than in investment portfolios. They also hold €113.1 billion in payment accounts with Dutch banks. Added to this are substantial assets kept with pension funds and insurers, business assets of self-employed persons and home equity, which fall outside direct securities holdings.
According to recent figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), there are 8.4 million private households in the Netherlands. Of these, around a quarter (1.9 million) invest, according to research (in Dutch) conducted by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).
Table 4.6: Investments by Dutch households in securities (also available through our API)
Dashboard: Securities holdings of Dutch households
The value of combined investments of Dutch households reached a record high of €185 billion in the second quarter of 2024. This increase was mainly driven by rising global equity markets, which subsequently fell during the third quarter.
Read more Household portfolio investments reach all-time high in second quarter of 2024
Thanks to buoyant stock markets worldwide, Dutch pension funds recorded strong price gains of almost €36 billion on their equity and investment fund shares, according to macroeconomic data from DNB.
Read more Dutch pension funds see assets grow due to price gains on equities
Dutch investors had a profitable first quarter: in the first three months of 2024, the value of their combined investments rose by €13.1 billion. Households posted returns of €11.3 billion due to higher stock prices, and they made additional net purchases of €1.8 billion.
Read more Banner first quarter for household portfolio investments in 2024: 11.3 billion gain
The proportion of bonds carrying negative yields fell sharply in the first half of 2021 on the back of rising market rates. As of 30 June 2021, the combined nominal value of Dutch bonds with negative yields totalled €624 billion, down €142 billion on 31 December 2020.
Read more Volume of Dutch bonds with negative yields has fallen sharply
