Statistics Iceland has now published data on liabilities and assets of individuals for 2016, from annual tax returns. Assets increased from 2015 to 2016 while average debt was unchanged. Net worth increased, although a little less than between 2014 and 2015. When comparing sums it should be noted that the number of taxpayers increased between the years 2015 and 2016 and that the average consumer price index has increased by 1.7%. All values are in current prices.
Fewer with negative net worth in real estate
Net worth was 3.3 billion ISK in 2016 and increased by 13% from the previous year. However, the increase was less than in 2015 when it was 17% from the previous year. The 10% with the most net worth own around 62% of the total net worth, or 2.1 billion ISK.
The number of families with negative net worth in real estate continues to decrease. In 2016 there were 5,856 families with negative net worth in real estate which is 20% fewer than in 2015. On average the negative net worth in real estate for these families is 5 million ISK which is similar to 2015.
Average assets increase
Total assets were 5.2 billion ISK at the end of 2016 compared with 4.8 billion ISK at the end of 2015, which is an increase of 9% between years. Assets consist of real estate, vehicles, deposits and securities. The share of real estate is 73%, vehicles 5%, deposits 12% and securities 9%.
The first asset decile owns in total 2.3 billion ISK which is 45% of total assets. The first decile also owns 0.4 billion ISK in securities which is 86% of total securities.
Since 2012, the average and median assets have grown in different directions. The median asset has decreased while the average has increased. In the years before the economic bank crisis in 2008 these variables were in sync but fluctuated right after the crisis. One possible explanation for this is that proportionally fewer families own real estate while real estate prices have increased.
Debt increases
Total debt was 1.9 billion ISK at the end of 2016 and has increased by 3% between years. In 2016, 23% of families were debt free which is an increase of two percentage points since 2015. Of families with debt, 50% owned 5 million ISK or less and 90% owned less than 32 million ISK. The total debt of families in the 10th decile is 0.7 billion ISK or 39% of total debt.
Data on liabilities and assets of individuals is here. Note that data for 1997-2015 have been revised.