Mortgage debt down for second consecutive quarter
Email Bookmark Share
PrintThe Federal Reserve reports that mortgage debt outstanding has dropped for the second straight quarter. The figures were released for the 4th quarter of 2008 showing a drop of $67 billion dollars. This follows a $30 billion drop in mortgage debt in the 3rd quarter.
At the end of the fourth quarter the total mortgage debt outstanding stood at upwards of $14.5 trillion. Out of this total, major financial institutions, including commercial banks, savings and loans and life insurance companies held mortgages totaling over $5 trillion.
While mortgages for family residences saw a reduction of $150 billion between the second and fourth quarters of 2008, the mortgages for other types of residences including multi-family, farm and non-farm properties saw increases in the same period.
On the other side of the mortgage equation, it is the savings banks and savings and loan associations which saw the bulk of the reduction in mortgage holdings: with a $132 billion drop in the third quarter and a further $23 billion drop in the fourth quarter.
