Hawaii Leads Nation with Highest Average Closed Home Loan Amount

Northeast states including NJ and NY near top of list; National average home loan amount is $222,261

News Release from LendingTree.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With mortgage rates continuing to be near record lows, LendingTree.com, the nation's leading online lender exchange and personal finance resource, today released data highlighting the average loan amount on residential real estate purchases for all 50 states and Washington D.C. for the year. Hawaii, by far, leads the nation with an average home loan amount of $677,299, followed by Washington D.C. at $393,453, New Jersey at $344,240 and New York at $340,124. The states with the lowest average home loan amounts are Mississippi at $137,182 and Nebraska at $137,515. The national average for a home loan is $222,261.

The full list of average home loan amounts for all 50 states and Washington D.C. can be found at http://marketing.lendingtree.com/pr/average_closed_home_loan_amount.pdf

Additional findings from the LendingTree data include:

• California, the state with the highest population in the country, has the ninth highest average home loan amount ($310,676)
• The average buyer in Hawaii, based on the average loan of $677,299 and an APR of 4%, would have a monthly payment for a 30 year mortgage (1 point) of $3,234 before taxes and insurance. The average payment for Mississippi would be $655 based on the closed loan amount
• The national average monthly payment for a 30 year mortgage at 4% would be $1,061