Mortgage
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How Does LendingTree Get Paid?

LendingTree is compensated by companies on this site and this compensation may impact how and where offers appear on this site (such as the order). LendingTree does not include all lenders, savings products, or loan options available in the marketplace.

Mortgage Statistics: 2023

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Demand was incredibly strong through 2020 and 2021 as record-low mortgage rates and high personal savings helped create a homebuying frenzy. But times have changed quickly. While the housing market isn’t crashing, rising rates and persistently high home prices have caused mortgage demand to significantly diminish over the past year.

Nonetheless, Americans owe $11.92 trillion on their mortgages, and mortgage debt accounts for 70.6% of consumer debt in the U.S. Even with interest rates hovering around 6.50%, mortgage demand hasn’t disappeared, and Americans across the country are trying to navigate today’s challenging housing market. Because of this, understanding how Americans deal with their mortgages is fundamental to comprehending the state of American finances.

With that in mind, LendingTree analyzed various data sources to create a mortgage statistics overview. Read on to learn more about how much mortgage debt Americans owe — and how they’re using and managing that debt.

Latest mortgage statistics in 2023

  • Americans owe $11.92 trillion on 83.4 million mortgages. That comes to an average of $142,927 per person with a mortgage on their credit report. Mortgages represent 70.6% of consumer debt in the U.S. (See how this has changed over time)
  • Additionally, Americans owe $336 billion on 13.1 million home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). That equates to an average of $25,610 per account. Outstanding HELOC debt represents 2.0% of U.S. consumer debt.
  • In 2022, the average weekly interest rate for a fixed, 30-year mortgage was 5.34%. The range was from a low of 3.22% the week of Jan. 6, 2022, to a high of 7.08% the week of Nov. 10, 2022. (See rates from 1972 through 2022)
  • Americans originated $2.75 trillion in new mortgage debt in 2022. 80.0% of that was issued to super-prime borrowers with credit scores of at least 720, while 2.8% was issued to subprime borrowers with scores below 620. (See historical origination data)
  • The average size of a home purchase mortgage obtained through the LendingTree platform in 2022 was $333,342. Average loan sizes were highest in the District of Columbia ($561,114), Washington state ($537,741) and California ($520,110). They were lowest in Michigan ($206,581), Indiana ($218,852) and Ohio ($223,264). (See a full list of states and home prices over time)
  • 4.6% of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans are seriously delinquent. That means they’re 90 days or more past due. 2.5% of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans are seriously delinquent, versus 0.8% of conventional mortgages. Combined, 1.2% of all mortgage accounts are seriously delinquent.
  • There were 96,740 new foreclosures in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2022. 2.9% of mortgage accounts were at least 30 days past due and 1.2% were at least 90 days past due in November 2022. Both were down about a full percentage point from November 2021. (See how this compares to the past)
  • 1.9% of mortgages — or 1.1 million residential properties — are “underwater.” That means that the outstanding mortgage balance is greater than the estimated sale price of the home.
  • At the end of the third quarter of 2022, American households held 70.4% of their property value, or $29.50 trillion, in real estate equity. That’s 78.4% more than the $16.54 trillion held in the third quarter of 2017. Due to rising home prices, homeowners gained an average of about $34,300 in increased equity over the past year.

The wider view

Outstanding mortgages

The massive increase in outstanding mortgage debt has been driven by two things: more people with active mortgages and mortgages that are (generally) larger. Record-low mortgage interest rates allowed many buyers to increase their purchase prices — or take advantage of a cash-out refinance — while maintaining similar monthly payments to what was available in the recent past with smaller loan sizes.

Outstanding mortgages

Mortgage accounts* (millions)Mortgage balances ($ trillions)Average mortgage size per account
Q4 201283.23$8.03$96,516
Q4 201381.60$8.05$98,640
Q4 201481.43$8.17$100,332
Q4 201580.61$8.25$102,332
Q4 201679.90$8.48$106,133
Q4 201779.99$8.88$111,039
Q4 201879.35$9.12$114,984
Q4 201980.94$9.56$118,075
Q4 202080.60$10.04$124,603
Q4 202180.96$10.93$135,005
Q4 202283.42$11.92$142,927

Source: LendingTree analysis of Federal Reserve Bank of New York data. Note: * People with joint accounts are counted twice if a mortgage account appears on their credit report.

Outstanding HELOCs

HELOC accounts* (millions)HELOC balances ($ trillions)Average HELOC size per account
Q4 201218.66$0.56$30,171
Q4 201317.71$0.53$29,870
Q4 201417.26$0.51$29,548
Q4 201516.68$0.49$29,197
Q4 201616.26$0.47$29,090
Q4 201715.68$0.44$28,316
Q4 201815.41$0.41$26,736
Q4 201914.99$0.39$26,017
Q4 202013.75$0.35$25,382
Q4 202112.75$0.32$24,941
Q4 202213.12$0.34$25,610

Source: LendingTree analysis of Federal Reserve Bank of New York data. Note: * People with joint accounts are counted twice if a HELOC account appears on their credit report.

Mortgage rates

Mortgage interest rates for a fixed, 30-year loan peaked at 18.63% in 1981. The weekly average for that year was 16.64%. In fact, rates didn’t drop below 10% between November 1978 and April 1986.

Over the past 50 years, rates dropped below 5% for the first time in 2009 after the Federal Reserve aggressively lowered target rates to combat the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. Rates dipped below 4% for the first time in late 2011 and below 3% for the first time in 2020.

Average mortgage rates reached their lowest level (2.65%) during the first week of 2021. The lowest weekly rate in the 30 years between 1972 and 2001 — 6.45% — occurred in November 2001.

Here’s a look at historic mortgage rates dating to 1972:

Historic interest rates for 30-year conventional mortgages

Annual weekly averageAnnual highAnnual low
19727.38%7.46%7.23%
19738.04%8.85%7.43%
19749.19%10.03%8.40%
19759.05%9.60%8.80%
19768.87%9.10%8.70%
19778.85%9.00%8.65%
19789.64%10.38%8.98%
197911.20%12.90%10.38%
198013.74%16.35%12.18%
198116.64%18.63%14.80%
198216.04%17.66%13.57%
198313.24%13.89%12.55%
198413.88%14.68%13.14%
198512.43%13.29%11.09%
198610.19%10.99%9.29%
198710.21%11.58%9.03%
198810.34%10.77%9.84%
198910.32%11.22%9.68%
199010.13%10.67%9.56%
19919.25%9.75%8.35%
19928.39%9.03%7.84%
19937.31%8.07%6.74%
19948.38%9.25%6.97%
19957.93%9.22%7.11%
19967.81%8.42%6.94%
19977.60%8.18%6.99%
19986.94%7.22%6.49%
19997.44%8.15%6.74%
20008.05%8.64%7.13%
20016.97%7.24%6.45%
20026.54%7.18%5.93%
20035.83%6.44%5.21%
20045.84%6.34%5.38%
20055.87%6.37%5.53%
20066.41%6.80%6.10%
20076.34%6.74%5.96%
20086.03%6.63%5.10%
20095.04%5.59%4.71%
20104.69%5.21%4.17%
20114.45%5.05%3.91%
20123.66%4.08%3.31%
20133.98%4.58%3.34%
20144.17%4.53%3.80%
20153.85%4.09%3.59%
20163.65%4.32%3.41%
20173.99%4.30%3.78%
20184.54%4.94%3.95%
20193.94%4.51%3.49%
20203.11%3.72%2.66%
20212.96%3.18%2.65%
20225.34%7.08%3.22%

Source: LendingTree analysis of Federal Reserve of St. Louis data.

Mortgage originations

Mortgage originations dropped off dramatically as rates rose from their 2021 historic lows. In fact, $2.75 trillion in mortgages were originated in 2022, compared with $4.51 trillion in 2021.

At $4.51 trillion, 2021 saw the largest annual origination volume of the last 20 years. Historically low rates that year meant that borrowers could take out bigger loans for similar monthly payments, and it also drew many people to refinance their existing mortgages.

Origination volume was also elevated in the years leading up to the subprime mortgage financial crisis of 2007 to 2010, with subprime borrowers with credit scores below 620 taking up an unusually large share of the new debt. Subprime borrowing as a share of origination volume peaked in 2006 at 13.6%, while super-prime borrowers with scores of at least 720 held their smallest share that year (53.5%). In 2020 and 2021, subprime borrowers only comprised around 2% of the volume, while super-prime borrowers comprised around 84%.

Average mortgage size for home purchases

The amount borrowed for home purchases varies greatly by location — and local home purchase prices.

The average amount borrowed through our platform to purchase a home — which excludes down payments and closing fees — ranged from $561,114 in the District of Columbia to $206,581 in Michigan in 2022.

How much people borrowed for home purchases via the LendingTree platform in 2022

StateAverage mortgage sizeSize rank
Overall$333,342
Alabama$283,01736
Alaska$382,12314
Arizona$378,04217
Arkansas$283,84134
California$520,1103
Colorado$458,4996
Connecticut$350,11821
Delaware$351,91720
District of Columbia$561,1141
Florida$332,53925
Georgia$316,73528
Hawaii$477,7774
Idaho$345,02422
Illinois$287,33233
Indiana$218,85250
Iowa$259,60242
Kansas$228,40348
Kentucky$259,75441
Louisiana$250,90944
Maine$279,61138
Maryland$409,7429
Massachusetts$467,4365
Michigan$206,58151
Minnesota$288,98931
Mississippi$237,71947
Missouri$280,58437
Montana$330,18126
Nebraska$287,68932
Nevada$378,79116
New Hampshire$376,56418
New Jersey$404,94812
New Mexico$305,18429
New York$407,30811
North Carolina$344,61523
North Dakota$293,59330
Ohio$223,26449
Oklahoma$261,08040
Oregon$397,91913
Pennsylvania$275,73839
Rhode Island$409,17010
South Carolina$357,16919
South Dakota$246,25445
Tennessee$321,68327
Texas$344,05224
Utah$416,4238
Vermont$452,4127
Virginia$379,45515
Washington$537,7412
West Virginia$245,05346
Wisconsin$254,11743
Wyoming$283,25335

Source: Anonymized LendingTree data.

Folding in down payments, the average purchase price for a home in the U.S. was dramatically higher than the $333,342 average mortgage size on our platform in 2022. Average home prices reached their historic high nationally in the third quarter of 2022 at $547,800, before dropping to $535,800 in the fourth quarter.

Driven in part by lower mortgage rates, home prices rose dramatically following the start of the pandemic, when the national average home purchase price was $374,500. That represents an increase of $173,300, or 46.3%, in the nine quarters (just over two years) before the peak in the third quarter of 2022.

Delinquencies and foreclosures

The percentage of mortgage debt that is seriously delinquent — meaning 90 days or more past due — is at a historic low. However, it’s important to remember that this represents the percentage of outstanding debt, not the number of individual accounts.

According to CoreLogic, the 0.4% of debt at least 90 days late reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for September 2022 translated to 1.2% of individual loans. (As mentioned above, the current rate of seriously delinquent loans in November 2022 — the latest available — was also 1.2%.)

As discussed, 2021 saw a huge surge in the total volume of dollars originated as mortgage debt, and a historically high proportion of that went to super-prime borrowers, which should minimize the amount of debt that becomes delinquent or goes into foreclosure.

However, there’s a point of concern for the future. The amount of mortgage debt that became 30 days overdue popped up in the second and third quarters of 2022. Most of these borrowers will catch up shortly, but every delinquency begins with one missed payment.

Number of new foreclosures

YearForeclosures
2012451,340
2013708,140
2014495,620
2015404,180
2016339,200
2017314,220
2018284,360
2019277,560
2020129,000
202138,040
202287,860

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax panel.

Sources

  • Anonymized LendingTree customer data
  • Federal Reserve
  • Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax panel
  • Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
  • CoreLogic
 

Today's Mortgage Rates

  • 6.79%
  • 6.53%
  • n/a%
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