Americans owe more than $12 trillion on their mortgages, and the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on the “States Adding the Most Mortgage Debt” to show where homeowners are struggling the most.
WalletHub compared the 50 states based on its data on mortgage debt from Q3 to Q4 2023.
The states with the largest increases were Maryland, Nevada, Hawaii, Texas, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New York, Maine and Alaska.
The states where there was the smallest of increases relating to mortgage debt were Mississippi, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, Connecticut, Wyoming, Delaware and Vermont.
“Mortgage interest rates are the highest they’ve been in around a decade, and home prices have seen a meteoric rise in recent years as well,” the survey stated. “Even small increases in home prices can lead to thousands of dollars in extra mortgage interest costs for homeowners, so it’s important to choose wisely when deciding where and when to buy a house.”
Additionally, Maryland residents added the most mortgage debt from Q3 to Q4, at least in percentage terms, with the average balance rising by 1.23 percent to $283,092. No other state had an increase above 1 percent, and 17 states even saw decreases during Q4.