Key graphs - household debt

Inflation	Real GDP	Mortgage rates	House prices/values	Household debt
Current account	90-day rates	Exchange rate	Employment	Download data

By December 2008 the outstanding total debt of households had increased more than six times in dollar terms since 1990. As a percentage of households' disposable income, household debt peaked at over 160% early in 2008, nearing 3 times the December 1990 level. The weighted average interest rate on total household debt however had fallen from over 15% to just above 8.5% per annum (at December 2008, 92% of household debt was housing debt, at an average rate of around 8%). Interest servicing of the increased debt, as a percentage of incomes, was 50% higher than in 1990. At current levels, the ratio of household debt to income (excluding student loans) is similar to those found in Australia and the UK.
Data are available in Excel by selecting the " Download data" link. Note that these data are quarterly. They are updated early in the second month after the quarter and debt values are grossed up from table C6. (All loans to households are surveyed at December. The annual December total was around 2% higher than surveyed monthly C6 total household debt at December 2005, and close to 1% at December 2008).

Debt data and disposable income are revised on publication of December data.

Using Statistics New Zealand's household income and outlay account for the year to the previous March, the Bank adds back to disposable income fixed capital consumption and household interest payable. It uses December Monetary Policy Statement projections of the growth of disposable income to project the disposable income denominator in the debt ratio for the following year.

Last updated 8 June 2010

A data revision has updated annual disposable income data which did not incorporate revisions from Statistics New Zealand published late in 2008. This annual series is used to calculate the percentage of household debt to disposable income. The revision has caused a minor reduction in this percentage from 2002 onwards. The servicing percentage has not been affected.

Annual household assets and liabilities estimates are available here;