Although the number of U.S. credit unions continued to contract, total real estate loan assets and credit union membership grew.
The number of federally insured credit unions in business as of the third quarter of this year totaled 6,350.
Credit union count subsided from 6,429 in the second quarter. There were also fewer credit unions than the 6,620 in the third-quarter 2013.
The statistics were reported Thursday by the National Credit Union Administration.
“The decline is consistent with long-running consolidation trends within the credit union system,” the report stated.
Credit unions closed out the third quarter with 98.7 million members.
Membership was up from a record 98.0 million in the second quarter. In the third quarter of last year, there were 95.9 million credit union members.
First mortgages owned by credit unions finished September at $286.4 billion, expanding from $279.2 billion three months earlier and $262.3 billion a year earlier.
Second-mortgage assets at credit unions were $71.5 billion, up 1.1 percent for the year.
“Prior to the third quarter of 2014, second-mortgage loans had contracted year-over-year since the second quarter of 2009,” NCUA stated.
Total assets were $1.1 trillion.
During the first nine months of 2014, credit unions originated $68.3 billion in first mortgages, according to data provided by Callahan & Associates.
Other real estate loan originations were $16.9 billion during the same period.
