Americans increased their mortgage borrowings in the second quarter of the year, adding fuel to a housing boom that has seen US prices surge at a record pace.

Data from the New York branch of the Federal Reserve showed that mortgage originations reached $1.2tn in the three months to the end of June, exceeding volumes seen in the previous three quarters and well above the $752bn level reached in the final quarter of 2019. Taken together, mortgage originations over the four quarters to June 30 — which include refinancing — amounted to nearly $4.6tn, a historic high. 

That helped to push mortgage balances to more than $10tn — after a $282bn increase over the preceding three months — meaning about 44 per cent of the outstanding mortgage balance was originated in the past year.