Households grow $2.1 trillion richer

The central bank defines household net worth as the difference between the value of assets and liabilities. In the fourth quarter, households had assets worth $70.7 trillion and liabilities totaling $13.9 trillion.

It was a good quarter for stocks, with the value of corporate equities held by American households rising $1 trillion to $8.5 trillion. The broad S&P 500 stock index gained over 10% in the last three months of 2010.

Overall, financial assets including stocks, bonds and real estate owned by households totaled $47.6 trillion in the quarter, up $2.3 trillion from the third quarter.

Household debt, meanwhile, continued to contract. In the fourth quarter, household debt declined 0.5%, marking over two years of falling debt levels.