Mortgage balances for Americans pushed to the highest level ever, totaling $9.4 trillion during the second quarter, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Low mortgage interest rates sparked increased loan originations by $130 billion compared with the previous quarter, marking the highest quarterly loan volume since third quarter 2017. However lenders still were stingy as the median credit score for new borrowers during the quarter was 759, which falls within the “very good” ranking on most trackers. Only 10% of borrowers had scores under 651.
Tight lending practices could explain why less than 1% of mortgage balances were 90 days or more delinquent.
