Household wealth declined almost $17 trillion in inflation-adjusted terms, or 26 percent, from its peak in mid-2007 to the trough in early 2009.1 Only about two-fifths of that loss had been recovered by early 2012. Looking at individual asset categories between June 30, 2007, and March 31, 2009, the inflation-adjusted value of households' real-estate holdings declined 26 percent ($5.4 trillion), while stock-market equity holdings declined in value by 51.5 percent ($10.8 trillion) after adjusting for inflation.