In the latest report, mortgage debt was 1.4 out of 2.1 trillion dollars total. The rest was consumer debt. By necessity a lot of that is held by homeowners - after all, they're the ones that can get HELOCs for cheap. 

Nobody? I did. I'm 38 and could buy a house for cash if I wanted to, but why would I want to? The dividends from my savings pay my rent and then some (going up about 8-10% a year vs controlled rent at 2) vs a house ... which sits there inertly, generating no dividends and costing taxes and the cost of fixing broken things. 

Renting = liquid assets and no opportunity costs.