The richest 1% of the Dutch population keep getting richer although their share of the total wealth in the Netherlands is edging down, the Volkskrant has reported.

The richest 1% had assets totalling €295 bn in 2016 or just under 28% of the total assets held by Dutch households. In 2015, the 1% owned 28.5% of the total, based on figures from the national statistics office CBS.

This change is explained by rising house prices. ‘Normal’ households gain the most this way because the very richest often have other substantial assets, the paper said.

The 7,500 richest households in the Netherlands had assets of just over €117bn or 11% of the total. This figure includes shares, bank and savings accounts, houses and other possessions. But money in pension funds is not included.

Pensions are not included in the figures because they are not liquid assets despite their total value of €1tn. The paper said the CBS was working on a method to measure the effect of individual pensions on total wealth.