Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS)

The Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) collects information on the asset portfolio allocation of households and their consumption decisions in all euro area countries (other than Ireland and Estonia in the first wave) and thus constitutes the most comprehensive survey on this topic in Europe. Earlier surveys carried out in Austria were limited to collecting data on selected aspects of households’ balance sheet (see Household Survey on Financial Wealth 2004 and Household Survey on Housing Wealth 2008).

The HFCS is the first survey in Austria to allow the whole balance sheet of households to be analyzed in line with international standards.

In Austria, the HFCS project has been implemented by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, in close cooperation with the other euro area central banks and the ECB. The field work of the fifth wave of the HFCS in Austria is carried out by the survey agency Institute for Empirical Social Studies (IFES). The previous waves of the euro area-wide HFCS were conducted in Austria in 2021/2022, 2016/2017, 2014/2015 and 2010/2011.