Rising home prices have forced consumers to routinely take on higher home mortgage debt, which is set to surpass the amount of borrowing that occurred 10 years ago—right before the housing market crash. According to the Federal Reserve, outstanding mortgage debt totaled $10.2 trillion in the second quarter of this year, an increase of 2.7% over the past year. During the easy subprime bubble lending days, the total debt hit $10.7 trillion. In addition, consumers have been taking on increasingly higher non-mortgage debt, as they purchase new cars with borrowed money and pay college tuition with student loans. The growth in these non-mortgage debt areas has been rising at a faster pace of 4.6% from one year ago. In all, the total combined household debt stood at an all-time high of $15.7 trillion.

Should such trends be a source of worry for consumers and for the broader economy? What is the proper perspective? Read on to learn more.

The article is written by Lawrence Yun for Forbes. You can read the full article here.