US Household Debt Drops in Q2 as Mortgage Balances Decrease
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that household debt in the US decreased by $13 billion to $18.771 trillion in Q2 2026. This marks a slight decline from Q1, but annual growth still reached $383 billion compared to the same period last year.
Mortgage balances led the quarterly decrease, dropping by $74 billion to total $13.117 trillion at the end of June. Despite this, annual mortgage growth remained positive with a $182 billion increase. Mortgage originations held steady at $505 billion newly originated during the quarter.
The serious delinquency rate for mortgage debt stood at 1.52% in Q2 2026 compared to 1.29% in Q2 2025. Joelle Scally, Economic Policy Advisor at the New York Fed, noted that 'delinquency rates across most products have held steady over the past two years.'
Auto loan balances grew by $28 billion to $1.713 trillion, representing a $58 billion annual expansion, as auto loan originations picked up to $211 billion.