In the 2019 second quarter, Americans owed $9.4 trillion in mortgage debt, up $162 billion from the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That is even higher than the previous market zenith of $9.3 trillion in the 2008 third quarter just prior to the financial crash. New mortgage origination made up $474 billion of the current total, an increase of $140 billion from the previous quarter that was largely a product of borrowers taking advantage of lower interest rates.