Credit card debt, mortgages, and vehicle loans account for the majority of household debt in the United States. Many Americans experience financial instability as a result of this. In the third quarter of 2023, the total household debt reached $17.29 trillion, up 1.3% over the previous quarter, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While credit card balances hit $1.08 trillion, mortgage debt increased to $12.14 trillion. Student debt balances rose to $1.6 trillion at the same time. The amount owed on auto loans increased as well, hitting $1.6 trillion. Retail credit cards and other consumer loans are examples of additional balances.
All states have varying degrees of household debt as a result of the external environment. In addition to growing inflation, areas that have already had a surge in immigration, including Maryland, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, have also seen rising housing and transportation prices. Due to rising living expenses, inhabitants in these high-growth locations are under more financial hardship as their mortgage and credit card debt mounts. These states have high median salaries, but they haven’t been able to keep up with the expenses.
The population has been particularly influenced by the US housing market. Due to the increased cost of purchasing a new home, homeowners are unwilling to sell their properties in the face of rising interest rates. This exacerbates the scarcity of homes. Americans who were considering buying a house are thinking about renting one instead as median home prices keep rising. The housing market in the United States is now facing a number of difficulties.
The 2023 State of the Nation’s Housing report was released by Harvard University’s Joint Centre for Housing Studies in 2023. As the US median house price hit $3,000 per month in March 2023, the number of first-time home buyers decreased. Additionally, people are now burdened by housing costs as they are spending a bigger percentage of their income on housing. Growing expenses for building materials and land have also resulted in a decrease in the development of medium-sized, reasonably priced residences.
Due to their cheaper real estate and living expenses, Kentucky, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Michigan have lower household debt levels than other states. We’ve already spoken about the US home markets with the lowest prices. But since household debt exceeds median wages in most US states, the inflation impact has spread widely. The fact that New York is the only state where the debt-to-income ratio is less than 1% shows how financially stressed Americans are. This is explained by the state’s high income level and low rates of housing and vehicle ownership.
Companies provide mortgage loans to meet the demands of borrowers nationwide in the face of growing financial difficulties. Being a homeowner is typically a top goal because housing is one of the largest expenses for the typical household. As was already noted, the nation’s affordability problems have been becoming worse. Nonetheless, mortgage lenders provide workable solutions that let a lot of Americans become home owners. United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE:UWMC), loanDepot, Inc. (NYSE:LDI), and Rocket firms, Inc. (NYSE:RKT) are a few of these mortgage firms. Let’s examine the activities of these firms.
LoanDepot, Inc. (NYSE: LDI) is a digital commerce firm and equitable housing lender that supports clients as they become homeowners. One of the biggest non-bank retail mortgage lenders in the US is this firm. The organisation has locations around the nation, which facilitates the process of buying or refinancing a house. It provides a range of financing solutions, from refurbishment loans to buydown and zero down payment alternatives. The organisation just entered into a strategic collaboration to assist a larger audience with homeownership. LoanDepot, Inc. (NYSE: LDI) announced on November 16 that it has become a strategic partner of EXIT Realty Corp. International. The company’s local market knowledge will be fully accessible to EXIT Realty Corp.’s real estate agents.
An American wholesale mortgage lender is called United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE:UWMC). The business does loan underwriting for independent brokers. It recently provided independent mortgage brokers with a free evaluation so they could cultivate relationships with US real estate agents and borrowers. United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE:UWMC) announced on November 15 that it will pay for all conventional and government home loans’ appraisal fees. At this point, an independent mortgage broker will make use of the business’s 1-0 Temporary Rate Buydown offering. Borrowers that take advantage of this service will save money on both the first loan payment and the appraisal expenses.
We used information from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to create a list of the 15 US states with the highest rate of debt per resident. State-specific debt data from 2022 was the most current available. Therefore, we chose as our criterion the total debt amount per capita for each state.
In the end, we arranged the 15 states in the US with the highest debt per capita as of 2022, according to their overall debt balance per capita.