Key graphs - household debt
|
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
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 12 May 2009 Household debt and disposable income data are revised annually in the second quarter of each year, with subsequent quarters estimated. Annual household assets and liabilities estimates are available here; |
