Mortgage, credit card, and unsecured personal loan balances at or near record levels.

According to the first quarter Credit Industry Insights Report (CIRR) published by TransUnion, consumers are increasingly turning to credit to manage their budgets, leading to record- or near-record high balances in credit cards and unsecured loans. Mortgage balances reached a record level of $11.8 trillion during the first quarter of 2023; while a slowdown in mortgage activity continues to accelerate, down $2.9 million, representing a 65% year-over-year drop—the largest decline reported since TransUnion began tracking the statistic. Within originations, purchases made up 86% of the volume in the fourth quarter of 2022 with 900,000 originations (down by 45% year-over-year from 1.6M in the fourth quarter of 2021). Refinance originations fell by 89% year-over-year from 1.3M to 143,000, the lowest level to date. This was driven by the dramatic decrease of rate and term refinances, which were down by 96% year-over-year from 588,000 in Q4 2021 to 24 000 in Q4 2022, and cash-out refinance originations, which were down by 83% year-over-year from 716,000 to 120,000. Conversely, Home equity line of credit originations were up 7% year-over-year to reach 299,000 in the fourth quarter of 2022, while home equity loan originations grew 31% year-over-year to 264,000. Mortgage delinquencies ticked up year-over-year, with account-level delinquency (60+ days past due) growing 12% to 0.98% this quarter, though still remaining at very low levels historically. 

Source: MReport