America’s huge mortgage market is slowly dying. In America’s foundation myths, the humble mortgage rarely features. There are no stirring ballads about the heroism of 30-year rates or credit-scoring. Yet mortgages have fueled the American dream, which centers on home ownership, ever since the federal government began subsidizing property loans a century ago. Now that fuel is running low. At $13.5 trillion, America’s current stock of mortgage debt is equivalent to 44% of the country’s GDP. That marks a drop of almost 30 percentage points since the global financial crisis of 2007-09, which was sparked by a binge on dicey housing debt, and the lowest level since 1999, before that property bubble got started. More striking still, mortgage debt has shrunk to just 27% of the value of American household property—a 65-year low. A great de-mortgaging is under way, with worrying consequences for the property market.
With Wall Street fretting about other corners of American finance, such as booming private lending to shaky mid-size firms, the tranquility of the mortgage market might seem like a sign of healthy restraint. In fact, it masks an insidious crisis. The median monthly principal-and-interest payment on an American home has surged from just above $1,000 to $2,100 in five years.
"Mortgage debt has shrunk to just 27% of the value of American household property—a 65-year low. A great demortgaging is under way, with worrying consequences for the property market" https://t.co/dJcHA6ehZQ pic.twitter.com/IGSoQOrQIH
— Jim Russell (@ProducerCities) November 20, 2025