Japan household assets at end of March up 7.1% on year on rising stocks

Household assets in Japan at the end of March stood at 2,386 trillion yen ($15 trillion), up 7.1 percent from a year earlier, lifted by rising stock prices, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.

Assets were boosted by stockholdings, which surged 28.6 percent to 398 trillion yen, while households held 165 trillion yen in investment trusts, up 25.7 percent. Cash and deposits edged up 0.6 percent to 1,126 trillion yen.

Liabilities rose 3.0 percent to 414 trillion yen, due partly to an increase in borrowing amid higher housing prices.

Preliminary data for the January-March quarter showed that the central bank held 47.9 percent of outstanding government bonds at the end of March, the lowest level since the end of June 2020. The balance stood at 485 trillion yen.

The proportion of government bonds held by the BOJ has been declining due to the gradual scaling back of purchases by the central bank.