U.S. household debt is on the rise once again after several years of decline, yet leverage is still falling, observes a new report from U.S. Federal Reserve Board.
In a new report, Ivan Vidangos, senior economist at the Fed,n otes that U.S household debt has been on the rise for the past seven quarters. This follows five years of declining debt, in the wake of the financial crisis and the subsequent global recession.
Between 2008 and early 2013, household debt fell by almost US$1 trillion, the report says; reversing nearly 50 years of rising debt levels. Since the first quarter of 2013, household debt has risen by about US$280 billion to US$12.7 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2014; which leaves it well below the peak of US$13.32 trillion in 2008.
The recent rise in household debt comes as mortgage charge-offs and negative net mortgage originations “have waned” the report says, “while consumer credit has been expanding at a robust pace.” The growth in consumer credit is being driven by student loans and auto loans, it notes.
Notwithstanding this recent trend in debt levels, the report says that the growth in household debt over the past couple of years has still lagged the growth in disposable personal income; allowing a common metric of leverage, the debt-to-DPI ratio, to continue declining through the end of 2014.