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204 posts on "Household Finance"
May 17, 2017

Household Borrowing in Historical Perspective

Today, the New York Fed’s Center for Microeconomic Data released its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the first quarter of 2017.

Posted at 11:08 am in Credit, Household Finance, Recession | Permalink
May 15, 2017

Do Credit Markets Watch the Waving Flag of Bankruptcy?

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham explores how the lifting of bankruptcy flags affects borrowers’ credit scores and credit outcomes.

Posted at 7:00 am in Credit, Household Finance | Permalink
May 11, 2017

Just Released: 2017 SCE Housing Survey Finds Increased Optimism about Home Price Growth

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s 2017 SCE Housing Survey indicates that expected home price growth over the next year has increased compared with twelve months earlier, and is at its highest level since the survey’s inception in 2014.

Posted at 11:00 am in Household Finance | Permalink | Comments (2)
April 3, 2017

Diplomas to Doorsteps: Education, Student Debt, and Homeownership

Evidence overwhelmingly shows that the average earnings premium to having a college education is high and has risen over the past several decades, in part because of a decline in real average earnings for those without a college degree.

At the N.Y. Fed: Press Briefing on Household Borrowing with Close‑Up on Student Debt

An examination of recent developments in household borrowing was the focus of a press briefing held this morning at the New York Fed.

March 27, 2017

Being Up Front about the FHA’s Up‑Front Mortgage Insurance Premiums

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) played a significant role in maintaining mortgage credit availability following the onset of the subprime mortgage crisis and through the Great Recession.

March 1, 2017

When Debts Compete, Which Wins?

When faced with financial hardship, borrowers might choose to repay some debts while falling behind on others—potentially going into default.

Posted at 7:00 am in Credit, Household Finance | Permalink | Comments (8)
February 16, 2017

Just Released: Total Household Debt Nears 2008 Peak but Debt Picture Looks Much Different

The latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit from the New York Fed’s Center for Microeconomic Data showed a substantial increase in aggregate household debt balances in the fourth quarter of 2016 and for the year as a whole. As of December 31, 2016, total household debt stood at $12.58 trillion, an increase of $226 billion (or 1.8 percent) from the third quarter of 2016. Total household debt is now just 0.8 percent ($100 billion) below its third quarter 2008 peak of $12.68 trillion, and 12.8 percent above the second quarter 2013 trough. But debt looks very different in 2016 than it did the last time we saw this level of indebtedness.

Posted at 11:10 am in Household Finance | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Homeownership Gap Is Finally Closing

The homeownership rate peaked at 69 percent in late 2004. By the summer of 2016, it had dropped below 63 percent—exactly where it was when the government started reporting these data back in 1965.

Posted at 7:00 am in Household Finance, Housing, Inequality | Permalink
February 15, 2017

Houses as ATMs No Longer

Housing equity is the primary form of collateral that households use for borrowing. This makes it a potentially important source of consumption funding, especially for younger households. In a previous post we showed that owner’s equity in residential real estate has finally, thanks to increasing home prices, rebounded to and essentially re-attained its 2005 peak level. Yet in spite of a gain of more than $7 trillion in housing equity since 2012, so far homeowners haven’t been tapping this equity at anything like the pace we witnessed during the housing boom that ended in 2006. In this post, we analyze the changes in equity withdrawal.

Posted at 7:00 am in Credit, Household Finance, Housing | Permalink
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