Data from the New York Fed shows total household debt reached a record high in Q3 and credit card balances increased by $38 billion.
11/16/2022 3:30 P.M.
2 minute read
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data recently issued its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. The report shows an increase in total household debt in the third quarter of 2022, increasing by $351 billion (2.2%) to $16.51 trillion. Balances now stand $2.36 trillion higher than at the end of 2019, before the pandemic recession, according to the report.
The report is based on data from the New York Fed’s nationally representative Consumer Credit Panel.
“Credit card, mortgage, and auto loan balances continued to increase in the third quarter of 2022, reflecting a combination of robust consumer demand and higher prices,” said Donghoon Lee, economic research advisor at the New York Fed. “However, new mortgage originations have slowed to pre-pandemic levels amid rising interest rates.”
Major findings from the report include:
- Mortgage balances rose by $282 billion in the third quarter of 2022 and stood at $11.67 trillion at the end of September, representing a $1 trillion increase from the previous year.
- Credit card balances also increased by $38 billion. The 15% year-over-year increase in credit card balances represents the largest in more than 20 years.
- Auto loan balances increased by $22 billion in the third quarter, consistent with the upward trajectory seen since 2011.
- Student loan balances slightly declined and now stand at $1.57 trillion. In total, non-housing balances grew by $66 billion.
- Mortgage originations, which include refinances, stood at $633 billion in the third quarter, representing a $126 billion decline from the second quarter and a return to pre-pandemic volumes.
- The volume of newly originated auto loans was $185 billion, a slight reduction from the previous quarter but still elevated compared to the average volumes seen through the 2018-2019 period. Aggregate limits on credit card accounts increased by $82 billion and now stand at $4.3 trillion.
The New York Fed also issued an accompanying Liberty Street Economics blog post looking at trends in credit card balances and delinquencies by age and income of borrowers.
The report is based on data from the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data, and provides a quarterly snapshot of household trends in borrowing and indebtedness, including data about mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans and delinquencies.
Read more findings from the report here.
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