2 September 2010

Later we’ll see how the rising rates or decreasing home prices can reverse the trend. If it happens, then the average mortgage balance can fall for a moment.
And again, if it doesn’t – it’s always possible that the down payments will get smaller or people will take out more equity from their houses. In both cases it will support mortgage balances to some extent.  
The deal is that it’s quite difficult to give any forecasts, because the historical data concerning average balances, down payment size or equity is very hard to find.