Mortgage overpayment is worst where homes already cost the most
Los Angeles tops the rankings at $8,139 in average annual overpayment, affecting 83% of borrowers, a figure that compounds to nearly $150,000 over a 30-year loan.
Miami follows at $6,358 a year (88%), New York City at $6,012 (84%) and Washington, D.C. at $5,816 (84%).
Sun Belt markets are not spared: Dallas borrowers overpay by $5,320 annually, Phoenix by $5,089, and Atlanta by $4,851.
The national average stands at $3,343 per year, with Chicago and Houston the only two large markets where the overpayment rate equals or exceeds the 87% national figure.
The pattern is not new. June 2026 analysis of the hidden homeownership tax found that 90% of conventional loan borrowers nationally pay above competitive market rates. That figure runs higher than the overpayment rates recorded for FHA and VA borrowers, where consumer protections constrain lender pricing discretion in ways the conventional market does not.
