While the average loan in President Barack Obama’s home state is higher than any other state, the region he currently occupies includes two top-five titles.
The average U.S. loan amount last year was $222,262, according to LendingTree.
A separate report, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily, indicates that the average U.S. loan size has gone from $197,992 as of the end of last year to $199,558 as of the end of last week. The index indicated that last year’s highest average loan amount, $229,063, was reached during the week ended Sept. 23, while the lowest average was last week’s $199,558. A final 2011 report will be issued Friday.
In LendingTree’s report, Hawaii’s average loan amount for all of last year was $667,299. It was the biggest average of any state. The Aloha State was Obama’s original residence.
The president’s current residence, Washington, D.C., had the second-highest average loan amount: $393,453. Washington topped the most recent Mortgage Market Index report with an average loan amount of $320,500.
Before moving to Washington, D.C., Obama lived in Illinois, where LendingTree’s average loan amount last year was $211,902 — not high enough to make the top-15 states.
LendingTree said New Jersey’s $344,241 average loan amount last year landed it in the No. 3 spot. After that was $340,125 in New York.
Maryland, which is within commuting distance of the nation’s capitol, had the fifth-highest average at $328,651.
At the bottom of LendingTree’s list was Mississippi, where the average loan amount during 2011 was $137,182. Mississippi also finished last in the latest Mortgage Market Index report with an average loan amount of $127,530.
