Distribution of debt by its purpose, 1989–2010

	1989	1995	1998	2001	2007	2010
Primary residence	66.5%	72.3%	70.0%	72.9%	71.8%	71.4%
Other residential property	8.8	8.2	7.8	6.5	10.8	10.5
Investments excluding real estate	3.9	1	3.3	2.8	1.6	2
Vehicles	10.6	7.6	7.6	7.8	5.5	4.7
Goods and services (including credit-card debt)	6.1	5.7	6.3	5.8	6.2	5.7
Education	2.4	2.7	3.5	3.1	3.6	5.2
Other	1.7	2.4	1.5	1.1	0.5	0.4
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Source: Authors' analysis of Federal Reserve Board (2012c) and Bricker et al. (2012)

Documentation and methodology

Data for years 2001–2010 are from Bricker et al. (2012). Data for prior years are from the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances, Tables Based on the Internal Data.