Lisbon, May 28, 2026 (Lusa) - An average rise in real asset values, amid strong house price growth, drove a 29% real-terms increase in Portugal's average and median household net wealth between 2020 and 2024.
The 2024 Portuguese Household Finance and Consumption Survey (ISFF), which Statistics Portugal (INE) released on Thursday, shows that the percentage of highly indebted households fell during this period, resulting from debt reduction, income growth, and rising asset values.
The institute said average net wealth per household, the difference between asset value and debt, stood at €298,400 in 2024.
This represents a 29.4% increase at 2024 prices compared to 2020, when the previous survey took place.
“An average rise in real asset values (28.5%), largely stemming from a sharp increase in house prices, mainly drove this development,” it said.
The average value of financial assets, evaluated at 2024 prices, recorded a small change of -2.0%.
The average value of debt at 2024 prices, considering all households (with and without debt), fell 16.2%, which also contributed to the rise in average net wealth.
Median net wealth, which provides a better indication of the net wealth of most households living in Portugal, stood at €151,800, representing a real-terms increase of 29.2% compared to 2020.
The data shows that wealth distribution as a whole “was more equitable, despite an increased gap between extreme wealth classes.”
The median net wealth of the 20% of households with the lowest net wealth was around €1,700 in 2024, contrasting with a median of €1,046,700 for the 10% of households with the highest wealth.
The survey shows real assets accounted for 88.8% of total household assets, with the primary residence being the most important asset, representing 55.6% of total real assets.
Other properties and self-employment businesses were the second- and third-most-important real assets, worth 27.5% and 12.4%, respectively.
Most families held the bulk of their financial wealth in deposits in 2024, including savings and Treasury certificates (government-backed savings bonds), These accounted for 74.6% of total financial wealth, which INE notes “is in line with the high risk aversion reported by households.”
A total of 41.6% of households held some form of debt in 2024, and among indebted families, the median debt value was €35,300.
Credit access restrictions affected 8% of households that year, a figure that reached nearly 20% for the lowest-net-wealth families, younger families, or when the reference person was unemployed.
Mortgages on the primary residence were the most frequent type of debt (24.8% of households), while mortgages secured by other properties were the least frequent (4.3%).
Regarding unsecured debt, 18.4% of households held personal loans, and 10.5% had credit card debt, lines of credit, or bank overdrafts.
The median debt-to-income ratio stood at 102.6% in 2024, while the median debt-to-asset ratio reached 20.2% (compared to 130.5% and 25.1%, respectively, in 2020).
INE data also indicates that debt service (regular principal and interest repayments) represented more than 40% of income for 9.8% of households during the year under review, an increase from 2017 and 2020, but well below 2010 and 2013.
The percentage of households with a debt-to-income ratio above 300% maintained its sharp downward trend, falling from 39.6% in 2010 to 17.7% in 2024.
PD/LYT // ADB.
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