“Mortgage balances—the largest component of household debt—rose by $85 billion in the third quarter and sat at $9.86 trillion on September 30. Mortgage originations, which include refinances, were at $1.05 trillion, the second highest volume in the history of the series and second only to the historic refinance boom in 2003 Q3.”
This comes from a new report on total household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The topic of debt, specifically canceling student loan debt, has recently received a lot of attention in political circles.
When you hear about the size of the student loan market, currently $1.5 trillion, it’s natural to think that young people are drowning in it. That’s simply not the case for most people. According to the Brookings Institute, 6% of borrowers owe one-third of all outstanding student loan debt. 18% of borrowers owe less than $5,000.
Ben and I spoke about the idea of canceling debt, taxing stay-at-home workers, and much more on this week’s Animal Spirits on the podcast this week.
