Recent Developments in Household Net worth and Domestic Financial Debt

The net worth of households and nonprofits rose to $100.8 trillion during the first quarter of 2018. The value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities decreased $0.4 trillion and the value of real estate increased $0.5 trillion.

Domestic nonfinancial debt outstanding was $49.8 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2018, of which household debt was $15.3 trillion, nonfinancial business debt was $14.4 trillion, and total government debt was $20.1 trillion.

Domestic nonfinancial debt growth expanded 7.2 percent at an annual rate in the first quarter of 2018, up from an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the previous quarter.

Household debt increased 3.3 percent at an annual rate in the first quarter of 2018. Consumer credit grew at an annual rate of 4.2 percent, while mortgage debt (excluding charge-offs) grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent.

Nonfinancial business debt rose at an annual rate of 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2018, about the same as in the previous quarter.

Federal government debt increased 15.3 percent at an annual rate in the first quarter of 2018, due primarily to the debt ceiling increase and the restoration of government trust funds that were affected by the Treasury's extraordinary measures.

State and local government debt contracted at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2018, after expanding at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the previous quarter.

Household Net Worth and Growth of Nonfinancial Debt

Year	Household Net Worth1	Growth of domestic nonfinancial debt; Total 2	Growth of domestic nonfinancial debt; Households	Growth of domestic nonfinancial debt; Businesses	Growth of domestic nonfinancial debt; Federal government	Growth of domestic nonfinancial debt; State and local govt's
2008	56,274	5.8	0.1	5.7	21.4	1.4
2009	58,082	3.6	0.4	-4.0	20.4	4.6
2010	62,045	4.4	-0.6	-0.7	18.5	2.5
2011	63,117	3.7	-0.0	2.7	10.8	-1.3
2012	68,806	4.6	1.1	4.5	10.1	-0.0
2013	78,552	3.8	1.6	4.7	6.7	-1.7
2014	83,517	4.1	2.2	6.2	5.4	-1.2
2015	86,535	4.3	2.3	6.8	5.0	0.3
2016	91,955	4.5	3.3	5.5	5.6	1.0
2017	99,740	3.8	3.8	5.7	2.8	-0.1
2016:Q1	87,063	5.5	2.4	9.2	6.2	0.7
2016:Q2	87,807	4.4	3.7	4.1	5.7	2.2
2016:Q3	90,091	5.2	4.2	6.1	6.3	0.8
2016:Q4	91,955	2.7	2.8	2.2	3.6	0.4
2017:Q1	94,138	1.8	3.9	6.1	-2.6	-3.3
2017:Q2	95,482	4.1	3.9	5.9	3.6	-1.2
2017:Q3	97,266	6.0	2.7	6.0	10.3	-0.2
2017:Q4	99,740	2.9	4.6	4.4	-0.2	4.3
2018:Q1	100,768	7.2	3.3	4.4	15.3	-4.2

1. Shown on table B.101, which includes nonprofit organizations. Billions of dollars; amounts outstanding end of period, not seasonally adjusted. Return to table
2. Percentage changes calculated as transactions at a seasonally adjusted annual rate divided by previous quarter's seasonally adjusted level, shown at an annual rate. Return to table

Release Highlights First Quarter 2018

Topic	Description
"Flows" now referred to as "transactions"	As of this publication, the term "flow" is being replaced by the term "transactions." The concept being referred to, which is the acquisition of assets or incurrence of liabilities, is not being changed. The change in terminology is intended to prevent confusion with the broader concept sometimes called "economic flow," which is the change in level from one period to the next and is composed of transactions, revaluations, and other changes in volume. The new terminology brings the Financial Accounts of the United States into better alignment with international guidelines in the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA2008).
Tax on foreign earnings retained abroad required in the December 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act	The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act requires corporations to pay taxes on all foreign earnings retained abroad after 1986 until the end of the companys most recent fiscal year. Payments may be spread over an eight-year period. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows this tax assessment as a capital transfer in 2017:Q4 (table F.5) from corporations to the federal government. These capital transfers appear on the Financial Accounts sector tables as part of gross savings less net capital transfers for the nonfinancial corporate business, U.S.-chartered depository institutions, property and casualty insurance companies, life insurance companies, finance companies, and brokers and dealers sectors (tables F.103, F.111, F.115, F.116, F.128, and F.130). On the instrument table taxes payable by businesses (tables F.228 and L.228), these tax assessments have been added to the federal government sector as taxes receivable and as taxes payable for the corresponding business sectors. The taxes receivable and payable will be reduced over the next eight years as payments are made. For additional information, see the Financial Accounts technical Q&A on the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Financial Accounts transactions.
"Total internal funds + IVA" renamed "Gross savings less net capital transfers paid" for the nonfinancial corporate business sector	The nonfinancial corporate business sector series "Total internal funds + IVA" (table F.103) has been renamed "Gross savings less net capital transfers paid," consistent with the language in the SNA2008 and in other sector tables. There was no change in the calculation of the series. In addition, the calculation of the sectors financing gap shown as a memo item has been corrected to exclude the sectors net capital transfers paid.
Changes to the components of liquid assets of the nonfinancial business sector	Liquid asset components of the nonfinancial corporate business sector (tables F.103, L.103, B.103, and R.103) have been revised back to 2010:Q4 to incorporate the Census Bureau's Quarterly Financial Report data for the service industry. Also, the allocation of deposits between checkable deposits and currency, and time and savings deposits for the nonfinancial corporate business sector and the nonfinancial noncorporate business sector (tables F.104, L.104, B.104, and R.104) has been re-estimated back to 2004:Q1 because of a change in methodology.
Nonfinancial corporate business benchmark	Assets of the nonfinancial corporate business sector (tables F.103, L.103, B.103, and R.103) have been revised from 2016:Q1 forward to reflect new data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Statistics of Income (SOI) for 2016.
Corporate credit unions	The credit union sector (tables F.114 and L.114) has been revised from 1997:Q1 to 2010:Q4 to incorporate data from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for all corporate credit unions. Previously, the Financial Accounts included only natural person credit unions and the U.S. Central Credit Union for this period. Additionally, U.S. Central Credit Union holdings of non-agency-related mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities have been reclassified from the instrument category agency- and GSE-backed securities to corporate and foreign bonds based on NCUA Form 5310 data.
Foreign financial sector issuance of commercial paper in the United States	Foreign financial sector issuance of commercial paper in the United States (tables F.209 and L.209) has been revised back to 2003:Q1 because of a change in the method for estimating foreign versus domestic issuance of asset-backed commercial paper. This change aligns the Financial Accounts with the BEA's International Transactions Accounts measure of foreign issuance of commercial paper in the United States.
Depository institution loans n.e.c.	The instrument category depository institution loans n.e.c. (tables F.215 and L.215) has been revised due to several changes in methodology. First, depository institution loans n.e.c. to holding companies have been reclassified as corporate and foreign bonds (tables F.131, L.131, F.213 and L.213). Additionally, depository institution loans n.e.c. to the rest of the world sector (tables F.133 and L.133) have been changed in two ways: Loans to foreign banks have been reclassified as interbank transactions (tables F.203 and L.203) to be consistent with the treatment recommended in the SNA2008 and, beginning in 2010:Q1, loans to foreign non-depository financial institutions have been added to depository institution loans n.e.c. of the rest of the world sector.

Explanatory Notes

Financial Accounts of the United States

The Statistical Release Z.1, "Financial Accounts of the United States," or Financial Accounts, is organized into the following sections:

• Matrices summarizing transactions and levels across sectors and tables on debt growth, net national wealth, gross domestic product (GDP), national income, saving, and so on
• Transactions of financial assets and liabilities, by sector and by financial instrument
• Levels of financial assets and liabilities, by sector and by financial instrument
• Balance sheets, including nonfinancial assets, and changes in net worth for households and nonprofit organizations, nonfinancial corporate businesses, and nonfinancial noncorporate businesses
• Supplementary tables providing equity detail of the household and nonprofit organization sector and data on nonprofit organizations
• Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts (IMA)

The IMA relate production, income, saving, and capital formation from the Bureau of Economic Analysiss (BEA) national income and product accounts (NIPA) to changes in net worth from the Financial Accounts on a sector-by-sector basis. The IMA are published jointly by the Federal Reserve Board and the BEA and are based on international guidelines and terminology as defined in the System of National Accounts (SNA2008).

Federal Reserve Board staff have taken many steps over the past several years to conform the Financial Accounts with the SNA2008 guidelines. Nonetheless, a few important differences remain. In particular, the following in the Financial Accounts:

• The purchase of consumer durables is treated as investment rather than as consumption.
• Nonfinancial noncorporate businesses (which are often small businesses) are shown in a separate sector rather than being included in the household sector.
• Some debt securities are recorded at book value rather than market value.

Concepts of Levels and Transactions in the SNA and the Financial Accounts

The level of an asset or liability (also referred to as the "stock" or "outstanding") measures the value of the asset or liability in existence at a point in time. In the Financial Accounts, the levels are reported as of the end of each calendar quarter. In the SNA2008, the change in the level from one period to the next is called the economic flow, and can be decomposed into three broad elements: transactions, which measure the exchange of assets; revaluations, which measure holding gains and losses; and other changes in volume, which measure discontinuities or breaks in time series due to disaster losses or a change in source data or definition. In practice, other volume changes are relatively rare, and revaluations occur only for series carried at market value (such as corporate equities and mutual fund shares), so for many series the change in the level is equal to transactions.

Growth Rates

Growth rates calculated from levels include revaluations and other changes in volume. In order to isolate the effect of transactions on growth of a given asset or liability, users should calculate the ratio of transactions in a given period to the level in the preceding period.

Growth rates in table D.1 are calculated by dividing transactions at a seasonally adjusted annual rate from table D.2 by seasonally adjusted levels at the end of the previous period from table D.3. Growth rates calculated from changes in unadjusted levels may differ from those in table D.1.

Seasonal Adjustment

Seasonal factors are recalculated and updated every year, and these revised factors are first published in the September release of second-quarter data. All series that exhibit significant seasonal patterns are adjusted. The seasonal factors are generated using the X-12-ARIMA seasonal adjustment program from the U.S. Census Bureau, estimated using the most recent 10 years of data. Because the effects of the recent financial crisis resulted in large outliers in some series that would have distorted the estimated seasonal factors, seasonal factors for some series were extrapolated using pre-crisis data. Seasonally adjusted levels shown in table D.3 are derived by carrying forward year-end levels by seasonally adjusted transactions.

Data Revisions

Data shown for the most recent quarters are based on preliminary and potentially incomplete information. A summary list of the most recent data available for each sector is provided in a table following these notes. Nonetheless, when source data are revised or estimation methods are improved, all data are subject to revision. There is no specific revision schedule; rather, data are revised on an ongoing basis. In each release of the Financial Accounts, major revisions are highlighted at the beginning of the publication.

Discrepancies

The data in the Financial Accounts come from a large variety of sources and are subject to limitations and uncertainty due to measurement errors, missing information, and incompatibilities among data sources. The size of this uncertainty cannot be quantified, but its existence is acknowledged by the inclusion of "statistical discrepancies" for various sectors and financial instruments.

The discrepancy for a given sector is defined as the difference between the aggregate value of the sectors sources of funds and the value of its uses of funds. Sources of funds are gross savings less net capital transfers paid and net increase in liabilities; uses of funds are capital expenditures and the net acquisition of financial assets. If a sectors sources of funds are greater than its uses of funds, the sector is a net lender of funds in the accounts. In the reverse case, the sector would be a net borrower of funds. Most of the data for deriving gross savings come from the BEA's NIPA. For a financial instrument category, the discrepancy is defined as the difference between the measurement of funds raised through the financial instrument and funds disbursed through that instrument. The relative size of the statistical discrepancy is one indication of the quality of the underlying source data. Note that differences in seasonal adjustment procedures sometimes result in quarterly discrepancies that partially or completely offset each other in the annual data.

Financial Accounts Guide

Substantially more detail on the construction of the Financial Accounts is available in the Financial Accounts Guide, which provides interactive, online documentation for each data series. The tools and descriptions in the guide are designed to help users understand the structure and content of the Financial Accounts.

Each input and calculated series in the Z.1 is identified according to a unique string of patterned numbers and letters. The series structure page of the guide provides a breakdown of what the letters and numbers represent in the series mnemonics. Some data submissions to international organizations are also available in the guide. The guide is updated with the quarterly release and is available online:

www.federalreserve.gov/apps/fof

Enhanced Financial Accounts and Data Visualization

Additional supplementary information is available online in the Enhanced Financial Accounts, which augment the Financial Accounts with finer detail, additional types of activities, higher-frequency data, and more-disaggregated data. Links to the Enhanced Financial Accounts are available from both the Financial Accounts Guide page and the main release page. In addition, interactive online data visualizations are available for selected components of the Financial Accounts and Enhanced Financial Accounts. Links are available also on the same pages.

Production Schedule

The Financial Accounts are published four times per year, about 10 weeks following the end of each calendar quarter. The publication is available online:

www.federalreserve.gov/releases/Z1

This website also provides CSV files of quarterly data for transactions at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, unadjusted transactions, outstandings, balance sheets, debt (tables D.1, D.2, and D.3), supplementary tables, and the IMA.

In addition, the data are available as customizable datasets through the Federal Reserve Board's Data Download Program at:

www.federalreserve.gov/datadownload/default.htm

Print Subscription Information

The Federal Reserve Board charges a fee for subscriptions to print versions of statistical releases. Inquiries regarding print versions should be directed to the following office:

Publications Services, Stop 127
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
20th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20551
(202) 452 3245

Description of Most Recent Data Available

Sector Table	Available at time of publication
National income and product accounts (NIPA) (various tables)	Second estimate, seasonally adjusted, for 2018:Q1. Unadjusted transactions through 2016:Q4 for the government sectors. Many BEA series are downloaded via Haver Analytics.
Households and nonprofit organizations sector (tables F.101 and L.101)	Estimates for this sector are largely residuals and are derived from data for other sectors. Availability of data depends on schedules for other sectors. Data for consumer credit, which are estimated directly, are available through 2018:Q1. The source for nonprofit organizations data (tables F.101.a and L.101.a) is the Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income (IRS/SOI). Data for nonprofit organizations are available annually for 1987 through 2014.
Nonfinancial corporate business (tables F.103 and L.103)	Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) of the Census Bureau through 2018:Q1; IRS/SOI data through 2016; securities offerings, mortgages, bank loans, commercial paper, and other loans through 2018:Q1. Corporate farm data through 2016.
Nonfinancial noncorporate business (tables F.104 and L.104)	IRS/SOI data through 2014; bank and finance company loans, and mortgage borrowing through 2018:Q1. Noncorporate farm data through 2016.
Federal government (tables F.106 and L.106)	Data from the Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays, Monthly Statement of the Public Debt, and loan programs through 2018:Q1.
State and local governments (tables F.107 and L.107)	Gross offerings and retirements of municipal securities, deposits at banks, and nonmarketable U.S. government security issues through 2018:Q1; total financial assets from Census Bureau through 2015:Q2; additional financial asset detail from comprehensive annual financial reports of state and local governments through 2011:Q2.
Monetary authority (tables F.109 and L.109)	All data through 2018:Q1.
U.S.-chartered depository institutions (tables F.111 and L.111)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Foreign banking offices in U.S. (tables F.112 and L.112)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Banks in U.S.-affiliated areas (tables F.113 and L.113)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Credit unions (tables F.114 and L.114)	Credit Union National Association and corporate credit union Call Report data through 2018:Q1. Credit union Call Report data through 2017:Q4.
Property-casualty insurance companies (tables F.115 and L.115)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Life insurance companies (tables F.116 and L.116)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Private pension funds (tables F.118 and L.118)	Internal Revenue Service/Department of Labor Form 5500 data through 2016. Investment Company Institute data through 2017:Q4. Annual actuarial liability data from the BEA through 2016:Q4.
Federal government retirement funds (tables F.119 and L.119)	Data from the Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays, the Thrift Savings Plan, and the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust through 2018:Q1. Annual actuarial liability data from the BEA through 2016:Q4.
State and local government employee retirement funds (tables F.120 and L.120)	Detailed annual survey data through 2016:Q2 and quarterly survey data through 2017:Q4 from the Census Bureau. Investment Company Institute data through 2017:Q4. Annual actuarial liability data from the BEA through 2016:Q4.
Money market funds (tables F.121 and L.121)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Mutual funds (tables F.122 and L.122)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Closed-end funds (tables F.123 and L.123)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Exchange-traded funds (tables F.124 and L.124)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) (tables F.125 and L.125)	Data for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FICO, REFCORP, Farmer Mac, FCS, amd FHLB through 2018:Q1.
Agency- and GSE-backed mortgage pools (tables F.126 and L.126)	Data for Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Farmer Mac and Ginnie Mae through 2018:Q1.
Issuers of asset-backed securities (ABS) (tables F.127 and L.127)	All data for private mortgage pools, consumer credit, business loans, student loans, consumer leases, and trade credit securitization through 2018:Q1.
Finance companies (tables F.128 and L.128)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) (tables F.129 and L.129)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Security brokers and dealers (tables F.130 and L.130)	Data for firms filing FOCUS and FOGS reports through 2017:Q3.
Holding companies (table F.131 and L.131)	All data through 2018:Q1.
Funding corporations (tables F.132 and L.132)	Estimates for this sector are largely residuals and are derived from data for other sectors.
Rest of the world (tables F.133 and L.133)	NIPA estimates, bank Call Reports, and Treasury International Capital System through 2018:Q1. Balance of Payments and International Investment Position data through 2017:Q4.

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