US household wealth fell again for third straight quarter

U.S. household wealth fell by $400 billion in the third quarter as a drop in U.S. stock prices outpaced gains in real estate values, a Federal Reserve report showed Friday.

Household net worth declined to $143.3 trillion at the end of September from $143.7 trillion at the end of June, the Fed’s quarterly snapshot of the national balance sheet showed. It was the third consecutive quarter household wealth has declined.

During that period, an index that covers 95% of the market capitalization of U.S. stocks lost almost $2 trillion in value on worries about stubbornly high inflation and the Fed’s outsized interest rate increases to try and bring it to heel.