ALEXANDRIA, Va. (12/5/14)--Lending in all categories was up in the third quarter of 2014, and credit unions saw the highest annual loan growth rate since the first quarter of 2006, according to data released by the National Credit Union Administration.
The data was released by the agency Thursday for the period between July 1 and Sept. 30.
Outstanding loan balances rose 10.1% from the third quarter of last year, to $695.3 billion. Compared with the third quarter of last year, new-auto loans grew 19.4% to $82.4 billion, used-auto loans increased 12.2% to $140.3 billion, net member business loan balances rose 12.6% to $50.4 billion, and non-federally guaranteed students loans expanded 21.9% to $3.1 billion.
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Housing loan growth also increased, with first-mortgage loans up 9.1% to $286.4 billion, and second-mortgage loans ticking up 1.1% to $71.5 billion. According to the NCUA, prior to the third quarter, second-mortgage loans had contracted from year-to-year since 2009.
The loan-to-share ratio also increased by 4.3 percentage points, to a total of 74%. This is the highest ratio since the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the agency.
Other third quarter highlights include:
NCUA Chair Debbie Matz called the reduction of long-term investments encouraging.
"A loan to a member is the best investment a credit union can make and benefits members directly. To protect the safety and soundness of the credit union system, NCUA will continue to carefully monitor signs of interest-rate risk," she said.
The NCUA's website contains complete details of the September call reports, as well as a summary of third quarter performance and financial trends data.