Well let's examine the facts in the economy around housing and debt.

3Q08, peak housing debt: $10 trillion.

2Q18, housing debt: $9.5 trillion.

That's with ten years of inflation, and housing being worth a lot more today than it was at the real estate bubble peak. Which is another way of saying, the US housing stock has dramatically more equity today than it did ten years ago.

In 3Q08 the median sale price of a house was $226,000. Today it's $309,000. People aren't very interested in selling or flipping, there's a dearth of inventory in most of the country, and people continue to build equity and pay down their mortgage debts.

Next, let's examine household debt service payments as a percentage of disposable income. An important sustainability metric for any normal household.

4Q07: 13.2%, the highest level on record. It was typically around 11% in the 1995-2000 economic boom. In the 1980s it peaked at 12% in 1987.

2Q18: 9.8%, the lowest level in the last 40 years. That is, the percentage of household disposable income going to debt service payments, is at a ~40 year low. By comparison, the lowest level in the 1990s, was right after the early 90s recession in 1993, at 10.3%. So US household debt service costs are hitting record lows, during a boom phase, which is extremely unusual (consumers are still quite skittish about debt thanks to the great recession).

Household debt to disposable income levels are at 16 year lows. Back to where it was in 2003. That rate has been relatively stable for the last four years, showing no signs of consumer household stress. The consumer comfort index by Bloomberg is indicating that consumers are as comfortable as they've been in two decades (several other consumer comfort surveys say the same thing).

Next let's look at mortgage delinquencies, a critical metric for housing sustainability and a key indicator of the last housing crash. From the Fed's 2Q18 report:

"Mortgage delinquencies continued to improve, with 1.1% of mortgage balances 90 or more days delinquent in 2018Q2."

That peaked at 5% in early 2010, roughly. That rate has been improving basically non-stop since 2010. It's not back to the 1990s lows, however it's back to the mid 1980s and early 2000s normal levels. Another year or two of improvement and it'll be back to properly healthy levels matching the mid 1990s.

Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) have been declining for a decade. Consumers typically tap into that when they're in desperate condition, and the very low rates of the last ~8 years were a prime opportunity to do so.

Next let's look at credit cards, given how common they are among consumers and that they're one of the first things consumers begin defaulting on.

The percent of credit card balances 90+ days late, peaked in 2Q10, at around 13.7%. That's now at 7.9%. That has remained low and stable for the last four years, and is comparable to the rates seen 15-20 years ago before the housing bubble years (and is below the 2002-2005 years). Consumers are showing no sign of stress when it comes to credit cards.

Student loans are the worst debt stress point among consumers (those with student loans that is). The percentage of student loans 90+ days late, is at 10.9% today, it peaked at 11.7% and 11.8% in 2012/2013. That compares to ~6.5% to ~7.5% in the 2003-2006 years before the great recession. The rate has remained unchanged for six years, indicating it's still elevated and remains a serious problem, and isn't worsening.