Gold fever strikes German retail investors

Despite the relative health of the German economy compared to its beleaguered Mediterranean peer states in the EU, average Germans are investing in physical gold en masse due to concerns over their fiscal well-being.

The Local reports that a new study by the Steinbeis Research Center for Financial Services has discovered that 69% of Germans have invested in gold, with around half of them keeping bullion in their own homes. 48% stash their gold in bank vaults, while 9% sequester their precious metals at the premises of specialized gold traders.

The Teutonic enthusiasm for gold is also increasing, with the number of Germans who have a net monthly income in excess of EUD4,000 and express an interest in gold investment having doubled in the current year.

On a per capita basis Germans own around 117 grams of gold each, while including gold securities the average German owns around EUD5,750 of gold.

Germans currently hold 7% of the world’s gold when the gold holdings of the German federal bank are included.

The study also found that wealthy Germans prefer to invest in gold bars, while less affluent Germans tend to purchase their bullion in the form of coins.