The amount of first mortgages outstanding has been on the rise. But the story is different for home-equity outstandings, which are declining.
U.S. mortgage borrowers have eliminated $1.5 trillion in home loan debt since the beginning of the financial crisis.
But Americans are again interested in buying real estate. As a result, outstanding mortgages have increased for three consecutive months.
That is according to the Equifax National Consumer Credit Trends Report released Wednesday.
As a result, outstanding mortgage debt stood at $8.59 trillion as of the end of last month.
A separate report from Fannie Mae indicates that outstanding mortgage debt will go from $9.869 trillion in 2013 to $9.925 trillion this year.
The Equifax report said that first mortgages accounted for $7.9 trillion of total outstandings, up from $7.7 trillion last year. It was the biggest year-over-year increase in more than three years.
Fannie’s report had first mortgage outstandings going from $9.158 trillion last year to $9.230 trillion in 2014.
Home-equity balances made up $0.6223 trillion of Equifax’s latest estimate, falling from $0.6643 trillion a year earlier.
“Home purchase transactions, in which first time homebuyers take on entirely new mortgage debt and move up buyers increase their existing mortgage debt, have finally overtaken foreclosures and accelerating pay-downs, resulting in increases home finance balances,” Equifax Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts said in the report.
Equifax said that 30-day delinquency on first mortgages fell 23 percent from January 2013 to January 2014.
On home-equity loans, delinquency was down 22 percent, while it fell 11 percent on home-equity lines of credit.
Write-off balances were $149.7 billion in 2014, down 30 percent from 2012 to a six-year low.
