A major reason why new home building has not substantially recovered is because outside of the upper classes real wages have been stagnant since the end of Great Recession. Worse, despite a rising stock market, a majority of Americans own no stock. Lastly, among households headed by individuals under 40, net worth is still, on average, lower than it was before the housing bust. We desperately need wage growth.
Tag Archives: Household wealth
Weak Wealth
While household wealth hit a new high of $80.7 trillion in Q4 2013, up $9.8 trillion from 12 months earlier and up from $68.8 trillion before the Great Recession, on an inflation adjusted per-capita basis wealth is still about $500 less than it was at the peak in 2007. Moreover, because most of the rise in wealth was from stocks and mutual funds, cash-out refinancing was essentially non-existent in 2013.