Gold remains a solid investment - especially in times of war and crisis. Therefore, the Germans store more than nine tons of the precious metal. Even the younger ones are heavily investing in gold.
Germans' gold hoards, which consist of bars, coins and jewelry, remain at a high level. The pandemic has increased the demand for gold as a safe haven in times of crisis - the record for Germany was achieved in 2021 with 9,089 tons.
But the indicators for this year are not much different - in the Federal Republic, 9,034 of the precious metals are still privately owned, according to a study by the Frankfurt-based "Reisebank", one of the main sellers of gold in Germany. Gold does not bring interest or dividends - but it continues to be a stable investment, states ARD.
Almost six percent of the world's gold is in Germany
Gold stocks held by private households in Germany as investments in the form of bars or coins have increased since 2021 by 35 tons to 5,229 tons. The remaining 3,805 tons are jewelry.
Together with the Federal Bank's gold reserves - 3,353 tons - it turns out that 5.9 percent of the world's gold is German property. The value of this gold is about 750 billion euros.
Gold as a hedge against inflation
Those who buy gold as an investment identify inflation protection as their main motive (38 percent). In the meantime, the young generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010) have also turned to gold purchases. What's more - from the study it is clear that they even buy a lot more gold than older people.
Inflation has fallen in recent months, but the demand for gold is supported by wars and crises, as well as by uncertainty regarding the outcome of important elections such as those in the US, and by the expectation of interest rate cuts. Three quarters of those surveyed in the "Reisebank" state that they will continue to invest their money in gold.
However, it is not cheap at all at the moment: from the beginning of the year to the end of April, the price for a troy ounce (31.1 grams) reached $2,431, having previously been around $2,300.