Household wealth rises as housing market continues to struggle

More people may be looking for moving companies soon, as it seems the U.S. population has a little extra cash to spare.

The nation's household wealth rose by $1.2 trillion in the third quarter, while consumer spending increased by 2.8 percent, indicating that Americans are slowly emerging from the country's worst recession since the 1930s, according to statistics released by the Federal Reserve.

Net worth for households and non-profit organizations reached $54.9 trillion in the third quarter, up from the $53.7 trillion mark from the previous quarter, while debt shrank by 1.7 percent, dropping for the tenth consecutive quarter.

The improvement in the economy can also be noted in the drop of applications for jobless benefits, with the Labor Department reporting that this past week saw 17,000 less applications than the 438,000 received the week before.

However, the national housing market continues to struggle. Property values fell 0.8 percent from August to September and 15 states had a year over year decline in values, according to the Case-Shiller home price index. The national unemployment rate still hovers at almost 10 percent, indicating that the drop in home values may be caused by mounting foreclosures.

A recent study from the Department of Labor reported that there were 3.4 million job openings on the last day of October, with employment rates increasing in the Northeastern, Southern and Western regions of the country.
 

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