Moneybox

Household Equity Surges  

Owners’ equity in American real estate—the value of real estate that households actually own—has really surged this year after spending quite some time in the doldrums. That’s what I thought was the most striking element of the latest flow of funds report from the Federal Reserve.

We’re still way below peak levels, but rising quite fast. This isn’t an inflation-adjusted series, but that’s probably appropriate in this case because mortgages are generally pegged at nominal levels as well.