Unrealized capital gains in houses, IRA's, 401K's, etc. are not included in the savings rate. Money you put into IRA's and 401K's is included.
But there hasn't been much gain in IRA's and 401K's this past calendar year, if you have it in the usual kinds of plans.
As regards housing though, it is now a moot point whether it is counted as savings or not. The value of your house is done going up at more than a couple of percent per year for the next couple of years. In many of the bubble areas, it's already down 5-10%, and many other areas will be starting that long road down soon as well. The housing ATM is closed.
Which explains why folks around here are now only able to sell their houses at 1500% of what they paid, rather than 1800 % of what they paid. :)
No it's not. They look at after tax money left after consumption. Because IRA's and 401k's are pre-tax, they're not included.
They also don't count realized capital gains. They do deduct the capital gains taxes paid. The savings rate is a flawed statistic.