Credit unions grew loans at a faster clip than community banks in 2017, according to data from the Credit Union National Association Mutual Group and the FDIC.

Loan balances at credit unions in 2017 rose 10.5 percent in 2017, according to CUNA, while banks grew loans at 7.7 percent, reaching $1.6 trillion in total, according to the FDIC.

The growth at credit unions was due to a surge in new auto loans, which rose more than 14 percent annually. Used auto and fixed-rate first mortgage growth rates also contributed to the growth.

Credit union real estate loan balances grew 9.3 percent in 2017, the fastest pace since 2008. Second mortgage loan balances reported positive growth of 3.2 percent in 2017 after eight years of falling balances due to members rolling second mortgages into refinanced first mortgages. By year-end, fixed-rate first mortgages made up 29.2 percent of all loans, up from 22.6 percent in December of 2007.

Although strong, loan growth in 2017 was actually behind levels in 2016, which saw 10.9 percent growth that year.

The CUNA report expects loan growth to decelerate to 10 percent in 2018 but remain well above the past 25 year average of 7 percent. Rising household formations of 1.6 million and continued job creation will keep home and auto sales strong.

The growth at community banks was driven by increase in nonfarm nonresidential loans (9.7 percent), 1-to-4 family residential loans (4.9 percent), commercial and industrial loans (7.4 percent), construction and development loans (12.2 percent) and multifamily loans (up 11.8 percent).

Community banks also funded an additional $9.2 billion in small loans to businesses compared with fourth quarter 2016, increasing the total to $294.8 billion (up 3.2 percent).