from the New York Fed

The Center for Microeconomic Data's latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit reveals that total household debt reached a new peak in the first quarter of 2018, rising $63 billion to reach $13.21 trillion. Balances climbed 0.6 percent on mortgages, 0.7 percent on auto loans, and 2.1 percent on student loans this past quarter, while they declined by 2.3 percent on credit cards.

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• Aggregate household debt balances increased in the first quarter of 2018, for the fifteenth consecutive quarter, and are now $526 billion higher than the previous (2008:Q3) peak of $12.68 trillion. As of March 31, 2018, total household indebtedness was $13.21 trillion, a $63 billion (0.5 percent) increase from the fourth quarter of 2017. Overall household debt is now 18.5 percent above the 2013:Q2 trough.
• Mortgage balances, the largest component of household debt, increased somewhat during the first quarter. Mortgage balances shown on consumer credit reports on March 31 stood at $8.94 trillion, an increase of $57 billion from the fourth quarter of 2017.
• Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC), in stark contrast to mortgage balances, have been continuously declining; in the first quarter, they fell by $8 billion and now stand at $436 billion.