US has $11.7T unpaid mortgage balances by end of 1st quarter

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US had 50.8 million outstanding mortgages with unpaid balances totaling $11.7 trillion at the end of the first quarter of this year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said Tuesday.

While 21.9% of outstanding mortgages had interest rates below 3%, 14.3% of outstanding mortgages had interest rates of 6% or higher, it said in a statement.

The adjustable-rate mortgages, meanwhile, accounted for 3.5% of outstanding mortgages, which was down from 9.6% a decade ago, it added.

The median monthly payment among outstanding mortgages was $1,520.

"The release of updated data will allow stakeholders to better understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends," FHFA Director Sandra L. Thompson said in the statement.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages declined to 6.93% for the week ending June 21, which marked the lowest level in more than three months, according to the latest data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

MBA's market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending June 21.