Household Net Worth in U.S. Fell in Second Quarter as Home Prices Slumped

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-16/household-worth-in-u-s-fell-by-149-billion-in-second-quarter.html

Household wealth in the U.S. dropped in the second quarter for the first time in a year, hurt by falling share prices and declining home values.

Net worth for households and non-profit groups decreased by $149 billion, a 1 percent drop at an annual pace, to $58.5 trillion, the Federal Reserve said today in its flow of funds report from Washington. It rose at a 7.4 percent rate in the previous three months. Housing wealth decreased for a fourth consecutive quarter from April to June.

A loss of $947 billion in real estate assets over the past year was compounded by a drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index last quarter, the first decline in a year. The erosion in wealth, which remains below pre-recession levels, and a stagnant job market may prompt Americans to keep trimming debt and rebuild savings, limiting the spending that accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

“Households’ ability to spend is being constrained,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. “Consumers are just tired to death of seeing the value of their homes fall.” The decline in wealth “provides the argument for long-term stagnation in consumer spending.”

[Exilednight]

1. Not to mention the fact that

900,000 more people are now without health insurance and the poverty rate grew to one out of every six people.

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2. +1

[mdmc]

3. ..