US household wealth hit record in third quarter 2025, Fed data shows

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. (Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )