Recent Developments in Household Net worth and Domestic Financial Debt

The net worth of households and nonprofits rose to $106.9 trillion during the second quarter of 2018. The value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities increased $0.8 trillion and the value of real estate increased $0.6 trillion.

Domestic nonfinancial debt outstanding was $50.7 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2018, of which household debt was $15.4 trillion, nonfinancial business debt was $14.8 trillion, and total government debt was $20.5 trillion.

Domestic nonfinancial debt expanded 4.6 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter of 2018, down from an annual rate of 7.5 percent in the previous quarter.

Household debt increased 2.9 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter of 2018. Consumer credit grew at an annual rate of 4 percent, while mortgage debt (excluding charge-offs) grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent.

Nonfinancial business debt rose at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2018, up from in the previous quarter.

Federal government debt increased 6.9 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter of 2018, after expanding at an annual rate of 17.2 percent in the previous quarter.

State and local government debt contracted at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the second quarter of 2018, after contracting at an annual rate of 2.9 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 gov'ts
2008 58,908 5.8 0.1 5.7 21.4 1.4
2009 60,490 3.7 0.4 -3.9 20.4 4.7
2010 64,261 4.4 -0.6 -0.6 18.5 2.6
2011 65,263 3.6 -0.0 2.7 10.8 -1.2
2012 70,859 4.8 1.1 5.0 10.1 -0.0
2013 81,396 3.8 1.6 4.6 6.7 -1.7
2014 86,252 4.1 2.2 6.3 5.4 -1.2
2015 89,621 4.4 2.3 7.0 5.0 0.3
2016 95,243 4.6 3.3 5.8 5.6 1.0
2017 103,435 3.7 3.9 5.3 2.8 -0.1
2016:Q2 90,894 4.5 3.7 4.2 6.0 2.4
2016:Q3 93,243 5.2 4.4 6.1 6.1 0.7
2016:Q4 95,243 2.5 2.6 3.3 2.1 -0.3
2017:Q1 97,406 2.1 3.5 5.2 -1.0 -2.2
2017:Q2 98,823 4.3 4.2 5.8 4.1 -0.9
2017:Q3 100,791 5.7 2.8 5.2 10.1 -0.7
2017:Q4 103,435 2.4 5.1 4.4 -2.1 3.4
2018:Q1 104,738 7.5 3.2 3.2 17.2 -2.9
2018:Q2 106,929 4.6 2.9 4.6 6.9 -0.4
  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 Second Quarter 2018

Topic Description
New supplementary household balance sheet table A new balance sheet for households, excluding nonprofit organizations, has been added as a supplementary table to the Financial Accounts (table B.101.h). The memo section of the table shows the reconciliation of the households' balance sheet (B.101.h) and the nonprofit organizations' balance sheet (table B.101.n), described below, with the combined households and nonprofit organization sector balance sheet shown in the core Financial Accounts (table B.101). Transactions and quarterly data can be obtained from the Federal Reserve Boards data download program.
Nonprofit organizations balance sheet A full balance sheet, including nonfinancial assets, for nonprofit organizations has been added as a supplementary table to the Financial Accounts (table B.101.n). Data for nonprofit organizations have been estimated through the latest publication period. This table replaces the previously published tables F.101.a and L.101.a. Transactions and quarterly data can be obtained from the Federal Reserve Boards data download program.
National income and product accounts comprehensive update The statistics in this publication reflect the 2018 comprehensive update of the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on July 27, 2018, as well as information for 2018:Q2 released by BEA on August 29, 2018. See the September 2018 issue of the Survey of Current Business for details on the 2018 comprehensive update. Major changes related to the Financial Accounts of the United States are described in some of the items below.
Fixed assets annual benchmark Investment, depreciation, and capital stock data for all private sectors have been revised beginning in 1988:Q1 to reflect updated annual estimates of fixed assets from BEA.
Reclassification of payments made by Federal Reserve Banks to the federal government Transfers of excess operating surpluses from the Federal Reserve Banks (monetary authority sector) to the federal government have been reclassified as dividend payments in the NIPAs and the Financial Accounts (tables F.3 and F.106). Previously, these transactions were recorded as taxes on corporate income.
State and local government employee defined benefit retirement funds' pension entitlements valued using PBO approach Pension entitlements of state and local government employee defined benefit retirement funds (tables F.120.b, L.120.b, F.227, and L.227) are now presented on a projected benefit obligation (PBO) basis; previously, they were presented on an accumulated benefit obligation (ABO) basis. The PBO method is also used to estimate the pension entitlements of federal government employee defined benefit pension plans. Private sector defined benefit plans will continue to be presented on an ABO basis.
NIPA not seasonally adjusted estimates for GDP, GDI, and their major components BEA's newly published not seasonally adjusted (NSA) estimates for GDP, GDI, and their major components have been incorporated from 2002:Q1 forward. Previously, NSA data were only available for the government sectors.
Nonfinancial corporate business holdings of corporate equities Corporate equities are now shown as an asset of the nonfinancial corporate business sector (tables F.103, F.223, L.103, L.223, B.103, and R.103). Previously, the sector's holdings were netted against its outstanding amount of corporate equities.
Nonfinancial noncorporate business benchmark Data for the nonfinancial noncorporate business sector (tables F.104, L.104, B.104, and R.104) have been revised to reflect new 2015 benchmark statistics from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Statistics of Income (SOI).
Private pension benchmark Assets of the private pension fund sector (tables F.118, F.118.b, F.118.c, L.118, L.118.b, and L.118.c) have been revised beginning in 2016:Q1 to reflect new data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service/Department of Labor/Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Form 5500 files for plan year 2016.
New source data for money market funds from SEC New source data for money market funds from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) form N-MFP have been incorporated into the sectors asset holdings (tables F.121 and L.121). Money market funds not available to the public, which are included in the SEC data, are excluded from Financial Accounts' estimates. Data revisions begin 2013:Q1.
Holders of money market fund shares Holdings of money market fund shares by households and nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, and funding corporations (tables F.206 and L.206) have been revised due to a change in methodology based on detail from the Investment Company Institute. Data revisions begin 1976:Q1.
Holding companies The holding company sector (tables F.131 and L.131) has been revised due to a methodology change to properly account for transactions between holding companies and their subsidiaries and to reflect additional foreign companies' investment in their U.S. holding company subsidiaries. Additionally, holding companies that file form FR Y-9SP have been incorporated from 1986:Q2 through 2006:Q1.
Rest of the world sector The rest of the world sector (tables F.133 and L.133) has been revised to reflect new data for the U.S. international transactions accounts and the U.S. international investment position accounts released by BEA from 2010:Q1 forward. BEA's changes are detailed in the July 2018 issue of the Survey of Current Business.
Tax on foreign earnings retained abroad required in the December 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) required corporations to pay taxes on all foreign earnings retained abroad between 1986 and the 2017 fiscal year. Payments may be spread over an eight-year period, with the first payments expected in 2018:Q2. The 2018:Q2 tax payments have been estimated as 8 percent of the corporations' TCJA tax liability. The payments are shown as a reduction in the taxes payable of the corporations and a reduction in taxes receivable for the federal government (tables F.228 and L.228). The affected corporations are included in the following sectors: nonfinancial corporate business, U.S.-chartered depository institutions, property-casualty insurance companies, life insurance companies, finance companies, and security brokers and dealers.
Accounting for reinsurance transactions in the Financial Accounts In accordance with System of National Accounts (SNA 2018) standards, the property-casualty insurance company sector (tables F.115 and L.115) and the life insurance company sector (tables F.116, F.116.g, F.116.s, L.116, L.116.g, and L.116.s) are now reported gross of reinsurance transactions between unaffiliated U.S. insurers, and between U.S. insurers and foreign insurers. The life insurance sector also now includes the assets and liabilities of U.S. captive reinsurers. Memo items on the insurance company sector tables show the reinsurance transactions that have been incorporated into these sectors. Accounting for these changes also affected the rest of the world sector (tables F.133 and L.133) and a number of instrument categories, including insurance reserves and trade payables. The forthcoming FEDS Note, Accounting for Reinsurance Transactions in the Financial Accounts of the United States, by Mike Batty, summarizes the effects of these changes and describes the treatment of reinsurance in more detail.
Seasonal adjustment Seasonal factors for quarterly transactions have been recalculated from 2008:Q1 forward. The seasonal factors are generated using the X-13-ARIMA seasonal adjustment program from the U.S. Census Bureau.
SDDS Plus: From-Whom-to-Whom Holdings of Debt Securities The "International Data Submissions" webpage of the Financial Accounts Guide includes a new table and an SDMX file for quarterly estimates of From-Whom-to-Whom Holdings of Debt Securities, as required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for adherence to the SDDS Plus initiative.

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:

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:

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-13-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 sector's 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 sector's 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:Q2. Unadjusted transactions from 2002:Q1 forward. 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:Q2. Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income (IRS/SOI) data for nonprofit organizations available through 2014 (table B.101.n).
Nonfinancial corporate business (tables F.103 and L.103) Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) of the Census Bureau through 2018:Q2 IRS/SOI data through 2016; securities offerings, mortgages, bank loans, commercial paper, and other loans through 2018:Q2. Corporate farm data through 2017.
Nonfinancial noncorporate business (tables F.104 and L.104) IRS/SOI data through 2015; bank and finance company loans, and mortgage borrowing through 2018:Q2. Noncorporate farm data through 2017.
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:Q2.
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 and MMF shares through 2018:Q2; total financial assets from Census Bureau through 2016: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:Q2.
U.S.-chartered depository institutions (tables F.111 and L.111) All data through 2018:Q2.
Foreign banking offices in U.S. (tables F.112 and L.112) All data through 2018:Q2.
Banks in U.S.-affiliated areas (tables F.113 and L.113) All data through 2018:Q2.
Credit unions (tables F.114 and L.114) Credit Union National Association, corporate credit union Call Report and credit union Call Report data through 2018:Q2.
Property-casualty insurance companies (tables F.115 and L.115) All data through 2018:Q2.
Life insurance companies (tables F.116 and L.116) All data through 2018:Q2.
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 2018:Q1. Annual actuarial liability data from the BEA through 2017: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:Q2. Annual actuarial liability data from the BEA through 2017:Q4.
State and local government employee retirement funds (tables F.120 and L.120) Detailed annual survey data through 2017:Q2 and quarterly survey data through 2018:Q1 from the Census Bureau. Investment Company Institute data through 2018:Q1. Annual actuarial liability data from the BEA through 2017:Q4.
Money market funds (tables F.121 and L.121) All data through 2018:Q2.
Mutual funds (tables F.122 and L.122) All data through 2018:Q2.
Closed-end funds (tables F.123 and L.123) All data through 2018:Q2.
Exchange-traded funds (tables F.124 and L.124) All data through 2018:Q2.
Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) (tables F.125 and L.125) Data for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FICO, REFCORP, Farmer Mac, FCS, and FHLB through 2018:Q2.
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:Q2.
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:Q2.
Finance companies (tables F.128 and L.128) All data through 2018:Q2.
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) (tables F.129 and L.129) All data through 2018:Q2.
Security brokers and dealers (tables F.130 and L.130) Data for firms filing FOCUS and FOGS reports through 2018:Q2.
Holding companies (table F.131 and L.131) All data through 2018:Q2.
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:Q2. International transaction accounts through 2018:Q2 and the international investment position accounts through 2018:Q1.
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Last Update: September 20, 2018