vs Last Week
+$0.18B
Steady accumulation.
Real Estate Loans Outstanding
U.S. Commercial Banks · Weekly H.8
$5.42T
+$0.18B vs. last week
Past 12 monthsRange $5.18T – $5.48T
vs Last Year+$0.22B
5-Yr Avg$5.10T
vs 2000+261%
Bank real estate loan balances hit $5.42 trillion — a new all-time high, climbing as the housing recovery gains pace. The largest single asset class on U.S. bank balance sheets.
Historical trend
Weekly Fed H.8 release.
Source: FRED · REALLN
The long view: since 1990
Banks held real estate loans through the 2008 crisis.
Today $5.42T · ATH1990 Level $0.80T5-Yr Avg $5.10T
How today stacks up
vs Last Year
+$0.22T
Banks extending credit.
5-Yr Avg
$5.10T
$320B above 5-yr mean.
2008 Peak
$3.90T
Today is 39% higher in nominal terms.
Use this data
Tools for housing decisions.
About Real Estate Loans Outstanding
This tracker shows the total dollar value of real estate loans on U.S. commercial bank balance sheets, published weekly by the Federal Reserve as part of the H.8 report ("Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the United States"). It includes residential mortgages, home equity loans, and commercial real estate loans held by banks. At $5.42 trillion, it represents the largest single asset category on U.S. bank balance sheets — bigger than business loans or consumer credit.
Why this matters beyond the housing market
Real estate loans concentrate systemic risk in banks. The 2008 financial crisis was fundamentally a real-estate-loans-on-bank-balance-sheets crisis. Regulators watch this number closely as a leading indicator of banking-sector health. Sharp drops can signal: (1) banks tightening credit standards (recession warning); (2) borrowers paying down debt aggressively (deleveraging); (3) loan losses being written off (bank stress). Sharp increases can signal credit expansion — historically a precursor to bubbles.
Reading this chart
The 2005–08 boom doubled real estate loans from $2.7T to $3.9T in three years — the credit expansion that fueled the bubble. The post-2008 era was remarkably stable. The 2020–23 climb to $5.4T reflects: (1) higher home prices pushing mortgage balances up; (2) commercial real estate growth; (3) banks holding more mortgages on balance sheet (rather than selling to Fannie/Freddie). The recent slow rise reflects the gradual housing recovery.
Related trackers
Other live numbers that move with — or against — this one.
Frequently asked
What this number means, and what it doesn't.
No — only mortgages held by commercial banks. The majority of U.S. residential mortgages are held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government-sponsored enterprises), and another large portion is held by non-bank servicers (Rocket, PennyMac, etc.). This series is what's on commercial bank balance sheets.
The Fed publishes its H.8 report every Friday, summarizing the balance sheets of all U.S. commercial banks. It includes deposits, loans by category, and securities holdings. The weekly cadence makes it a more responsive indicator than monthly housing data.
Some did, especially regional banks with commercial real estate exposure. Office building values fell 30–50% post-COVID, hurting CRE loan portfolios. Residential mortgage portfolios held up better. The H.8 doesn't break out residential vs commercial — but supplementary Fed reports do.
The Fed monitors banking system health closely. If real estate loans drop sharply (suggesting credit tightening) or banks show stress, that's a factor in the Fed's rate decisions. The 2023 regional banking crisis was partly about CRE loan concerns.
Methodology
Source
Pulled from FRED · REALLN and cached on the EvvyTools server.
Update schedule
Refreshed automatically by our cron whenever the upstream source publishes a new value. Historical values are not revised after publication.
How we compute
Display value is the raw published number, unrounded. Comparison stats use the closest available reference date. We never edit the underlying data.