Jan 9 (Reuters) – U.S. household wealth hit a record high of more than $180 trillion in the third quarter of 2025 on the back of an AI-boom in the stock market and continued gains in home prices, data from the Federal Reserve showed on Friday.<\/p>\n
The net worth of households and nonprofits rose to $181.6 trillion at the end of September from $175.6 trillion at the end of the second quarter in July, the Fed said in its quarterly release of national accounts data. The release was delayed by data-gathering issues arising from the record-long government shutdown that began at the start of the fourth quarter in October.<\/p>\n
Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n The value of households’ stock portfolios rose by $5.5 trillion in the quarter while the value of real estate holdings rose by $300 billion, the Fed said.<\/p>\n A frenzy of investments in artificial intelligence stocks powered a 7.8% price increase for the benchmark S&P 500 in the quarter, while the Nasdaq 100 index, where many of the biggest AI names are listed, climbed more than 11%. The market added more modestly to those gains in the fourth quarter and have begun 2026 with further increases.<\/p>\n Household debt also rose in the third quarter, climbing at an annual rate of 4.1% and led by an annualized increase of 3.2% in mortgage debt and 2.3% for consumer credit.<\/p>\n Federal government debt growth accelerated sharply in the July-through-September period, rising at a 15.5% annualized rate – ten times the growth rate of the previous three months, the Fed data showed.<\/p>\n Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama <\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n