Amount Three Times the National Average
By Cooper Smith
A recent survey from WalletHub found that New York homeowners are carrying the third-heaviest mortgage debt in the country, with average balances far exceeding the national average by a factor of three.
During the last three months of 2024, New York homeowners carried a balance of $314,400 on their mortgages, according to WalletHub. Only California and Hawaii had higher balances. Further, the national average mortgage debt load is $105,000 — almost one-third of the Empire State’s.
New York was also third in the nation for the highest average monthly mortgage payments in the U.S. WalletHub found that New Yorkers were paying $2,471 a month on average during the fourth quarter of last year — just lower than what Californians and Hawaiians pay.
“Mortgage rates are the highest they’ve been in around a decade, and home prices have seen a meteoric rise in recent years as well,” said WalletHub Editor John Kiernan. “Even small increases in home prices can lead to thousands of dollars in extra mortgage interest costs for homeowners, so it’s important to choose wisely when deciding where and when to buy a house.”
For those who are struggling with paying the mortgage, WalletHub offers the following tips:
- Try to make additional payments to reduce the interest, unless there are prepayment penalties.
- Switch to biweekly payments. This will result in 13 instead of 12 payments per year and may reduce the length of the mortgage term.
- Use windfalls (such as tax refunds, work bonuses and inheritance money) to pay off the mortgage.
- Consider refinancing to get a lower interest rate.
- Review your budget on a constant basis to see where you can cut out nonessential spending.
— Additional reporting by Hank Russell