$70.3 TRILLION: US Household Net Worth Just Hit An All-Time High

The Federal Reserve just released its quarterly Z.1 report – known as the "flow of funds" – which documents changes in U.S. household net worth.

In the first quarter of 2013, household net worth rose $3.003 trillion to a record $70.3 trillion. In the fourth quarter of 2013, household net worth only increased (an upward-revised) $1.397 trillion.

Around $2.3 trillion of the increase in household net worth in Q1 owes to rising asset and real estate prices.

Below is a quick summary of the contents of the report:

Household net worth – the difference between the values of households’ assets and liabilities – was $70.3 trillion at the end of the first quarter of this year, about $3 trillion more than at the end of 2012. In the first quarter, the value of corporate equities and mutual funds owned by households expanded $1.5 trillion and the value of residential real estate owned by households increased about $784 billion.

Domestic nonfinancial debt outstanding was $40.6 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2013, of which household debt was $12.8 trillion, nonfinancial business debt was $12.9 trillion, and total government debt was $14.9 trillion.

Domestic nonfinancial debt growth was 4.6 percent at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first quarter of 2013, about ¼ percentage point less than the pace for 2012 as a whole.

Household debt edged down at an annual rate of 0.6 percent in the first quarter. Home mortgage debt contracted 2.3 percent, about the same as the decline in 2012. Consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 5.7 percent, slightly less than the increase in 2012.

Nonfinancial business debt rose at an annual rate of 5.3 percent in the first quarter, after a 6 percent increase in 2012. As in recent years, corporate bonds accounted for the largest increase.

State and local government debt rose at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter, after declining slightly in 2012.

Federal government debt rose at an annual rate of 10.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013 after a 10.9 percent increase last year.

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Business Insider/Matthew Boesler, data from Bloomberg

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