Mortgage markets look similar from the outside: a buyer, a bank, a house, a monthly payment. But once you compare countries, the picture changes completely. The United States remains the largest mortgage-origination machine by volume. Australia and the Netherlands stand out when adjusted for population. Spain had one of Europe’s strongest rebounds in 2025. China remains enormous, but its housing-credit data is difficult to compare because public figures split bank lending, provident-fund lending and broader household loans.
This ranking uses estimated 2025 residential mortgage originations, approvals or new dwelling-loan commitments, depending on the country’s public data structure. That distinction matters. Some countries publish loan counts, others publish mortgage approvals, others publish only loan value or outstanding balances. For that reason, the tables below should be read as a high-quality comparative estimate, not a perfect global census.
The most important finding is this: the countries with the most mortgages are not always the countries where mortgages are most accessible. The U.S. has huge volume, but affordability is strained. Australia has very high mortgage activity per capita, but household debt and home prices remain heavy. Spain’s 2025 rebound was strong, with 501,073 home mortgages registered, up 17.8% from 2024, according to Spain’s INE.
The UK remained active, with Bank of England data showing monthly house-purchase mortgage approvals around the low-to-mid 60,000 range during 2025, including 65,400 approvals in July 2025. Australia recorded roughly 556,092 new dwelling-loan commitments in 2025, excluding refinancing, according to market summaries based on ABS lending indicators.
For gender and age, the global picture is weaker. The U.S. HMDA system collects applicant-level data, including sex and age, but many countries do not publish comparable annual mortgage-origin borrower demographics. Chile is one of the clearer examples: CMF-linked data cited by IFC shows only 41% of mortgage loans are granted to women, revealing a measurable gender gap in housing finance.
The clean conclusion: mortgage access is not just about rates. It is about income, age, gender, regulation, credit scoring, housing prices and whether a country even measures the problem properly.
Methodology note
The ranking below prioritizes new mortgage originations, approvals or dwelling-loan commitments in 2025. When a country does not publish comparable loan-count data, I mark it as not comparable instead of inventing a number. Countries repeated in the original list, such as Australia, are included once. I added the Netherlands and Germany because they are important mortgage markets and have stronger European mortgage relevance than some smaller markets.
Table 1: Estimated 2025 Mortgage Activity by Country
| Rank | Country / Market | Estimated 2025 new mortgages / approvals / dwelling-loan commitments | Data quality | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | ~5.4 million | High estimate | MBA expected total mortgage origination volume of about 5.4 million loans in 2025. |
| 2 | China | Not fully comparable; partial provident-fund mortgage market exceeded 2.3 million loans in 2024 | Medium-low | China is huge, but 2025 public data is fragmented; official data shows weak household-loan growth in 2025. |
| 3 | Mexico | ~700,000–850,000 estimate | Medium-low | Jan–Feb 2025 reports showed 143,200 mortgage originations; annualized figures must be treated carefully. |
| 4 | United Kingdom | ~720,000–780,000 approvals | Medium-high | Based on monthly Bank of England house-purchase approvals around 60,000–65,000 in several 2025 months. |
| 5 | Australia | ~556,000 | High | New dwelling-loan commitments in 2025, excluding refinancing. |
| 6 | Spain | 501,073 | High | INE reported 501,073 home mortgages in 2025, up 17.8%. |
| 7 | Netherlands | ~430,000–460,000 estimate | Medium | 207,000 mortgages in H1 2025 and around 126,000 in Q4 suggest very high annual activity. |
| 8 | France | Not comparable by count; high by value | Medium | Banque de France publishes new housing-loan value/rates more clearly than loan count. |
| 9 | Italy | Not comparable by count; moderate by European standards | Medium | Housing transactions recovered; mortgage count not directly comparable from public headline data. |
| 10 | Canada | Not comparable by public count; high mortgage stock | Medium | CMHC provides strong market dashboards and insured-loan data, but total annual loan-count comparability is limited. |
| 11 | Germany | Not comparable by count; very high outstanding stock | Medium | Bundesbank data focuses on outstanding housing-loan volumes rather than annual borrower count. |
| 12 | Japan | Not comparable by total count; Flat 35 segment visible | Medium-low | Japan has very low-rate housing finance, but public data often tracks specific programs rather than all mortgages. |
| 13 | Chile | Not comparable by total count; good gender/debt data | Medium | CMF data provides strong household-debt and gender-access signals. |
| 14 | Colombia | Not comparable by count | Medium-low | Mortgage credit recovered in 2025, but public annual origination count is not cleanly comparable. |
| 15 | New Zealand | Not comparable by count | Medium-low | Important market, but annual loan-count data is less comparable in public sources. |
| 16 | Argentina | Not comparable | Low | Mortgage credit is structurally smaller and more volatile due to inflation and macro instability. |
| 17 | Morocco | Not comparable | Low | Market matters regionally, but data is not comparable with advanced mortgage datasets. |
| 18 | Thailand | Not comparable | Low | Public mortgage count comparability is limited. |
| 19 | Indonesia | Not comparable | Low | Huge population, but formal mortgage penetration is far lower than in advanced economies. |
| 20 | Russia | Not comparable for this ranking | Low | Sanctions, wartime distortions and subsidy changes make direct comparison unreliable. |
Table 2: Estimated Mortgage Activity per 100,000 People
| Rank | Country / Market | Approx. new mortgages per 100,000 inhabitants | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | ~2,400–2,600 | Very high activity relative to population |
| 2 | Australia | ~2,000–2,100 | Extremely active mortgage market per capita |
| 3 | United States | ~1,550–1,650 | Huge absolute market, strong per-capita activity |
| 4 | United Kingdom | ~1,050–1,150 | Large, mature mortgage market |
| 5 | Spain | ~1,000–1,050 | Strong 2025 rebound |
| 6 | Mexico | ~540–650 | Larger than many assume, but affordability is uneven |
| 7 | China | ~160+ using partial provident-fund loan proxy | Official total mortgage count is not directly comparable |
| 8 | Canada | Not ranked | Public total count not cleanly comparable |
| 9 | France | Not ranked | Public count unavailable in comparable form |
| 10 | Germany | Not ranked | Strong stock data, weak comparable origination count |
Table 3: Gender Visibility in Mortgage Data
| Country / Market | Male share | Female share | Data quality | What it tells us |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chile | ~59% | ~41% | Medium-high | CMF-linked data cited by IFC shows women receive only 41% of mortgage loans. |
| United States | Available in HMDA, but not summarized here | Available in HMDA, but not summarized here | High raw data | The U.S. has strong applicant-level data, but it requires direct HMDA extraction. |
| Canada | Not globally comparable | Not globally comparable | Medium | Mortgage access can be studied, but gender-count data is not consistently public. |
| Spain | Not globally comparable | Not globally comparable | Medium-low | INE publishes mortgage volumes, not a simple gender split in headline data. |
| Australia | Not globally comparable | Not globally comparable | Medium-low | Lending indicators are strong; gender split is not usually headline mortgage data. |
| UK | Not globally comparable | Not globally comparable | Medium-low | Approvals data is strong; public gender split is limited. |
| Mexico | Not globally comparable | Not globally comparable | Low-medium | Public mortgage market is fragmented between banks and housing institutions. |
| China | Not comparable | Not comparable | Low | Household loan data is not published as a simple gender mortgage split. |
| Japan | Not comparable | Not comparable | Low | Program data exists, but not a clean gender ranking. |
Table 4: Age Pattern of Mortgage Borrowers
| Age group | Typical global mortgage pattern | Countries where this is especially relevant |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | Lower access; limited income, lower savings, weaker credit history | U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Spain |
| 30–39 | Core first-time buyer decade in many advanced markets | U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, Netherlands |
| 40–49 | Trade-up buyers, family housing, larger mortgages | U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany |
| 50–59 | Refinancing, second homes, late purchases, shorter amortization risk | U.S., Spain, France, Italy |
| 60+ | Lower new mortgage demand; more cash purchases or downsizing | Japan, Italy, Spain, France |
Table 5: Best Data Quality Ranking
| Rank | Country / Market | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | HMDA provides very detailed mortgage application and origination data. |
| 2 | Australia | ABS lending indicators give strong official quarterly loan-commitment data. |
| 3 | Spain | INE publishes clear monthly and annual mortgage statistics. |
| 4 | United Kingdom | Bank of England mortgage approvals are frequent and transparent. |
| 5 | Netherlands | Strong institutional and market reporting on mortgage originations. |
| 6 | Canada | CMHC data is strong, but total public loan-count comparison is less direct. |
| 7 | France | Good value/rate data, weaker simple loan-count comparability. |
| 8 | Chile | Strong debt and gender-access signals, weaker total origination comparability. |
| 9 | China | Large market, but fragmented reporting. |
| 10 | Mexico | Important market, but fragmented across banks, Infonavit and public institutions. |
Final ranking: Most important mortgage markets to watch
| Tier | Countries |
|---|---|
| Global giants | United States, China |
| High-volume mature markets | United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands |
| Fast-changing or structurally important markets | Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand |
| Difficult-to-compare markets | Argentina, Russia, Morocco, Thailand, Indonesia |
Disclaimer
The figures in this article are estimated 2025 mortgage-market comparisons based on official or semi-official public information available from central banks, statistical agencies, housing authorities and major market reports. Because countries define and publish mortgage data differently, the tables combine new mortgage originations, approvals, new dwelling-loan commitments or partial program data depending on availability. Gender and age rankings are not globally comparable; where reliable public data is unavailable, the table explicitly says so. These estimates should be used for editorial and educational analysis, not as audited financial statistics.