"New auto loans have crashed," Steven Rick, chief economist for CUNA Mutual Group said, also of Madison, Wis. "It's rare you see numbers change that fast."

Credit unions' portfolios of total car loans grew 15% in the 12 months that ended October 2014, and slowed gradually to 10.7% by October 2018.

Car lending, which accounts for about a third of credit union portfolios, has been hurt in part by the overall downtown in new car sales in the U.S.

Dealers sold new cars at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.6 million cars in October, down 5.3% from October 2018, with sales down 1.2% for the first 10 months of 2019, according to North American Dealers Association.

Over the past five years, credit union lending for real estate has been relatively steady compared with automotive loans.

Twelve-month gains for real estate loans measured in October have ranged from 7.2% in 2014 to 10% in 2017. This October, CUNA found they rose 8.6%.

The biggest push came from first-lien mortgages, which grew 9.4% to $466.1 billion as of Oct. 31. Second-lien mortgages grew 5.3% to $94.3 billion.

The latest report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed the number of existing homes sold in October was 4.6% greater than a year earlier. Half of those homes sold for $270,900 or more, 6.2% more than the median price in October 2018 and marking the 92nd straight month of year-over-year gains.

"Historically-low interest rates, continuing job expansion, higher weekly earnings and low mortgage rates are undoubtedly contributing to these higher numbers," NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun said. "We will likely continue to see sales climb as long as potential buyers are presented with an adequate supply of inventory."

The average interest rate was 3.97% for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at the end of November, contributing to refinances accounting for 59% of applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) in Washington, D.C.

While refinances dipped in late November, MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index was at its highest level since July.

"The purchase market overall looks healthy as we enter the home stretch of 2019," MBA Economist, Joel Kan said. "A combination of wage gains, slower home-price appreciation, and slightly easing inventory conditions continue to support increased activity."

CUNA's report showed credit unions had 121.7 million members in October, up 3.1% from October 2018. It also showed:

• Total loans grew 6.5% to $1.12 trillion.
• Assets grew 7.7% to $1.58 trillion.
• Savings grew 8.2% to $1.33 trillion.
• Capital grew 12.2% to $177.5 billion.
• The number of credit unions fell 3.3% to 5,442, down from 5,476 in September.