Residential loan production rose for the first time in more than a year, while the nation’s book of business grew and serious delinquency declined.
Mortgage originations by all U.S. lenders during the three months ended Sept. 30 worked out to $337 billion.
Home lending activity picked up from the second quarter, when $286 billion in aggregate mortgage production was generated.
The statistics were laid out in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Q3 2014 Household Debt and Credit report.
In the third-quarter 2013, mortgage originations totaled $549 billion.
The Fed noted that the latest quarterly activity represented the first increase in five quarters.
From Jan. 1, 2014, through Sept. 30, 2014, mortgage originations amounted to $955 billion.
Mortgage debt outstanding closed out the third quarter at $8.13 trillion. Outstandings increased by $35 billion compared to three months earlier.
The rise in mortgage debt was more significant compared to a year earlier, with a year-over-year increase of $234 billion recorded.
Mortgage delinquency of at least 90 days came in at 3.2 percent, down 20 basis points from the second quarter.
In the third-quarter 2013, serious delinquency was 4.3 percent.
There were $512 billion in home-equity lines of credit outstanding as of the third-quarter 2014.
HELOC outstandings were down $9 billion from three months earlier and $23 billion from a year earlier.
The 90-day HELOC delinquency rate was 3.3 percent, unchanged from mid-year 2014.
At the same point in 2013, the rate of serious delinquency on HELOCs was 3.5 percent.
