Robyn Seymour - Homeowners Take Away Over $9,000 in Mortgage Interest

According to an analysis released on Thursday the average homeowner deducts is $9,650 for mortgage interest. The National Association of Home Builders says that 35 million taxpayers used the home-mortgage deduction in 2003, deducting $338 billion. Thirty-nine million households deducted real estate taxes for the year, which added $119 billion to homeowner tax breaks across the country. The average homeowner deducted $3,000 in real estate taxes.

IRS data was used in the NAHB analysis. It stressed the importance of preferences in the tax code for homeowners. "Because the mortgage interest and real estate deductions significantly reduced federal tax liabilities for homeowners, they are important tools for promoting homeownership," said Jerry Howard, chief executive officer of the association. "The report shows that millions of working families across the nation use and depend upon these important tax incentives to help them maintain their current standard of living."

Every state in the country had at least one congressional district that deducted $259 million or more in home mortgage interest and $43 million or more in real estate taxes. The average district contains approximately 80,000 taxpayers who use the mortgage interest deduction, according to the report. Higher real estate tax deductions coincided with higher home prices and real estate tax rates. New Jersey topped the list for real estate tax deductions, with an average of $6,000 per household.

Rapidly growing populations and high housing prices were evident in areas with the highest mortgage interest deductions. California tops the list with $64.9 billion in deductions for homeowners. The state's 14th district, which includes parts of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, had an average mortgage interest deduction of $35,000 per household in 2003. The list of top ten states for mortgage interest deductions in 2003 were:

California $64.9 billion, New York $19.7 billion, Florida $17.6 billion, Texas $16 billion, Illinois $15.9 billion, New Jersey $12.9 billion, Michigan $11.5 billion, Virginia $11.3 billion, Ohio $10.9 billion and Pennsylvania $10.8 billion