Real estate and stocks drive Americans' net worth to another record—but there's a catch

Americans' wealth has hit a record $160 trillion, surging by $5.1 trillion in the first quarter alone, according to the Federal Reserve's latest report.

Collectively, Americans are now more than twice as rich as they were just a decade ago—thanks to substantial gains in the stock market and real estate equity.

Corporate equity contributed $3.83 trillion to the total rise in wealth this quarter. The S&P 600 increased 13%, while the Dow Jones climbed 3.2%. The Nasdaq has increased around 16% so far this year.

Meanwhile, home equity jumped by $907 billion over the same time frame, another new record. That's in large part due to limited supply and sky-high interest rates.

According to the most recent release of Redfin's Home Price Index (RHPI), prices have surged by 7.3% compared to a year ago. The typical home in the U.S. now sells for between $420,000 and $513,000.

Debt is at an all-time record, too

Don’t count our riches just yet.

The Federal Reserve quarterly report comes hot on the heels of a Federal Reserve of New York report showing that household debt has increased by $184 million to a total of $17.69 trillion.

According to the report, the majority of the rise was due to an increase in mortgage balances, which grew by $190 billion compared to the previous quarter and reached $12.44 trillion by the end of March.

The report also showed a growing number of Americans are falling behind on loan payments. Delinquency rates increased in the first quarter of 2024, with 3.2% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency at the end of March.

“In the first quarter of 2024, credit card and auto loan transition rates into serious delinquency continued to rise across all age groups,” said the New York Fed’s Joelle Scally.

“An increasing number of borrowers missed credit card payments, revealing worsening financial distress among some households.”

Interestingly, it seems the wealthiest are not immune to the credit crunch.

According to data from the St. Louis Fed, credit card delinquencies in the richest 10% of ZIP codes spiked from 4.8% in the second quarter of 2022 to 7.4% in the first quarter of 2024.

That’s a 54% jump—higher than any other income group.