Did You Know?

This page is for interesting facts and historical data about mortgages, real estate, and the financial markets.

Did You Know? – that obtaining a mortgage is not as difficult as the media would lead you to believe? Sure things are different now than they once were, but there are still plenty of opportunities for home buyers in this market.

Did You Know? – There are 55 million homeowners who have mortgages on their properties. Subprime mortgages (either ARM or fixed) make up just over 7 million of the 55 million total. Only 4 million of the 55 million mortgage holders (or approximately 7% of all mortgages) are currently delinquent on their monthly payments (source: Wall Street Journal).

Did You Know? – The number of US households that own homes declined by 221,000 in 2007 over the previous year’s total. The number of renter households however increased by +952,000 in 2007. The 2 groups combined are equal to 110 million households (source: Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard).

Did You Know? – The unemployment rate in the USA is 6.0% today. The unemployment rate in the 15-nations that use the euro (i.e., the Euro-zone) is 7.1% today, the lowest ever recorded. The euro was introduced in January 1999 (source: Department of Labor, Wall Street Journal).

Did You Know? – In the first 6 months of fiscal year 2008 (10/01/07-3/31/08), the US government spent $1.46 trillion. For the entire fiscal year 1994, the US government spent $1.46 trillion, an amount that at the time was an all-time record (source: Treasury Department).

Did You Know? – In 1980, the top 1% of US tax payers earned at least $81,000 annually in Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), which accounted for 8% of all Adjusted Gross Income, and they paid 19% of the total federal income tax.  In 2006 (the most recent year available for statistics) the top 1% of US tax payers made at least $389,000 in AGI, accounted for 22% of AGI nationwide, and paid 40% of all federal income tax.