Economists' Outlook

Housing stats and analysis from NAR's research experts.

Credit Scores in the U.S.

  • What is a credit score?  A credit score is meant to reflect a consumer’s risk of not paying money that is borrowed.
  • The chart above shows average (yellow) and median (green) credit scores over time.  It also shows the cutoff for the 25% with the highest credit scores (red) and lowest credit scores (blue) based on a sample the New York Fed has of consumer credit data.
  • The average and median credit scores among consumers have remained roughly constant over the 12 year history of the data.  In 1999 the median was just below 700 compared to just above 700 in the first quarter of 2011.
  • How do credit scores affect real estate? Buyers seeking financing are evaluated by lenders based in large part on their credit score.
  • Check out the blog for other articles on credit scores that show what has happened to the average credit score of FHA and Fannie/Freddie borrowers.
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