Americans' mortgage debt soars to a record $10 trillion
Low interest rates have helped fuel a boom in the US housing market: Last quarter Americans' mortgage debt climbed to a record high of nearly $10 trillion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday.
Homebuyers are leveraging the near-constant new lows in rates. At the beginning of this month mortgage rates fell to a record low -- the 12th record low in 2020.
So it's no surprise that Americans are out buying houses. Between July and September, mortgage debt increased by $85 billion to a total of $9.86 trillion, a record high, according to the report. Mortgages are the largest contributor to household debt in the United States.
The New York Fed's report was full of records or near-records....
S. Korea has a similar consumer-debt problem; sometimes they commit suicide owing to the disgrace: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8cbwbTqmCw
Whereas Americans have been conditioned, with much help from the media, into abolishing guilt and shame (other than for racism). Is that to our advantage, then?