Swedish households are saving more, with savings in liquid financial assets rising to SEK 157 billion (€14.2 billion) in the second quarter of 2025, a SEK 21 billion increase on the same period last year.
“Household savings in liquid assets remained high in the second quarter of the year,” commented Emil Hermansson, economist at Statistics Sweden. “Savings in bank accounts and purchases of funds accounted for the largest part of the increase.”
Types of savings
As the data showed, the savings largely came from deposits in bank accounts and purchases of funds.
Swedish households net purchased funds to a value of SEK 41 billion in the second quarter, including reinvested dividends and interest income on behalf of unitholders, which was down SEK 24 billion on the same period a year earlier.
Elsewhere, households had a net deposit with banks and other monetary financial institutions of SEK 109 billion (€9.86 billion), while net purchases of listed shares amounted to SEK 4 billion.
At the same time, borrowing increased, with net borrowing by Swedish households totalling SEK 44 billion, which was SEK 15 billion higher than the previous quarter, and up SEK 20 billion on the same quarter in 2024. The annual growth rate of household loans rose to 2.2% in the second quarter, up from 1.8% in the previous quarter.
‘There is a seasonal variation in household liquid savings, where savings are usually highest in the second quarter,’ Statistics Sweden noted. ‘This is because tax refunds are often paid out in the second quarter, which gives many households a temporary financial boost. At the same time, the majority of dividends are paid during this period, which further strengthens households’ ability to save.’
Household debt over time
Looking at long-term financial developments, the data indicated that since the mid-1990s, household debt has grown at a faster rate than income.
The debt-to-income ratio reached its highest level of 177% in 2021 before declining to 154% in the second quarter of 2025, indicating that households’ total debt was equivalent to 1.54 times their annual disposable income.
Debt relative to financial assets has decreased over the same period, from 34% in 1996 to 25% in 2025.
“The sharp rise in house prices in recent decades has led to larger loans for households, while incomes have not increased at the same rate,” Jansson added. “Despite this, debt has decreased as a share of households’ financial assets, mainly due to rising values of tenant-owned apartments and other financial investments such as shares.” Read more here.
