An August Redfin study found that just under one-third of millennials and Gen Zer homeowners admitted to struggling with their monthly mortgage payments, in part because of the costs of taxes and insurance, versus 30% of Gen X and 18% of baby boomers.

Property tax delinquencies rose to 5.1% in 2024, up from 4.5% one year earlier, a Cotality report also released in August noted.

How much property insurance costs have increased

ICE calculated that the average property insurance payment for a single-family borrower is $2,370 per year, or 9.6% of the monthly PITI payment.

This is the highest share of property insurance costs on record, and the fastest growing portion of the monthly payment, ICE Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research Andy Walden said in a press release.

"While mortgage principal, interest and property tax payments have all increased in recent years, insurance has far outpaced those gains, rising 4.9% in 2025, 11.3% annually and nearly 70% over the past five and a half years," Walden said. "That rapid escalation now means insurance alone consumes almost one in every $10 spent on average mortgage-related costs."

The 4.9% figure is for the first half of this year and is actually an improvement over the 7.3% increase for the same period in 2024.

Other portions of the PITI payment have also increased

Meanwhile, costs related to the mortgage principal have risen 23% over the past five years, ICE determined, with 27% for interest and 27% for property taxes.

Rising property values have contributed to the increase in premiums in addition to natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires; flood damage is not typically covered by homeowners' insurance, however.

A separate report from Zillow noted the U.S housing market is now worth $55.1 trillion due to rising prices, which is up $20 trillion since 2020. The gain since last year is $862 billion.

"Even as buyers struggled with rising costs, U.S. housing wealth kept climbing," said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, in a press release. "Home value gains are a windfall for longtime homeowners, but they also highlight how housing deficits that sent prices soaring left behind many aspiring first-time buyers."

Which states had the largest increase in premiums

California had the largest increase in premiums in the first half of the year, ICE said. In particular, the Los Angeles area, with several swaths damaged by wildfires which started late 2024 and early 2025, had premiums rise 9% in the first six months of the year and 19.5% year-over-year.

But Florida, which normally is one of the higher priced states for property insurance, has seen costs moderate as of late.

States where home values declined

Even so, the Zillow report noted housing markets in seven states lost value in the past year, led by Florida with a $109 billion decline; and California, where values are $106 billion lower.

In contrast, collective home values in New York rose by $216 billion, while neighboring New Jersey was up by $101 billion.

More context on the change in mortgage delinquencies

ICE previously reported in its First Look that the mortgage delinquency rate fell 9 basis points year-over-year to 3.27% in July.

Providing some additional color, ICE noted the inflow of new delinquencies was 13% lower than June and 5% below that of July 2024. It is the second consecutive drop in the annual rate as borrowers curing their situation outpace the additional number of consumers missing their scheduled payment.

While cures increased 17% in the month, it was still 9% below the levels in 2024.

ICE expects higher delinquency rates among recent originations and those should put upward pressure on the national rate. But the good news is that a heavy concentration of lower interest 2020 and 2021 vintage loans, which are more than a third of active mortgages, will work to hold overall delinquencies down.

A report released by Cotality last week found a quarter-to-quarter increase of 0.2 percentage points in the 30-to-59 days' late bucket. However, the 90 day or more category was 0.1 percentage points lower.

How much equity did homeowners tap in Q2?

ICE noted that current homeowners tapped $52 billion of equity through second-lien and cash-out refinancings during the second quarter, the most in nearly three years.

More than half of this, $28.6 billion, came from homeowners accessing their property value through a second lien product. But even the $23.2 billion which was pulled out via cash-out refi was the highest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2022, ICE said.

Still, elevated interest rates are having a negative effect on borrowing activity, as the second lien extraction rate is about 20% below its long-run average; the cash-out rate is one third of this metric.

Lower rates putting more owners in the money for a refi

But in another piece of good news, the percentage of homeowners ICE considers to be in the money for a refi jumped 28% as mortgage rates moved lower in response to the broader economic news, including the jobs report.

For its calculation, ICE used the following numbers. It figures 3.1 million homeowners have a rate high enough where it makes sense to refinance, based on its own data which shows a 6.36% average for the 30-year conforming mortgage.

The last time rates were at this level was 11 months ago, Oct. 3, 2024.

Last Thursday's Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which came out before the jobs report data, was at 6.5%, a level last seen the week of Oct. 27, 2024.

The 30-year conforming fixed rate loan averaged 6.494% on Aug. 29, according to data from product and pricing engine provider Optimal Blue. The next business day, Sept. 2, it was up to 6.552%

Over the next few days, the rate moved gradually lower at first, to 6.46% as of last Thursday. The following day it dropped almost 14 basis points to 6.332%.