Interest-only mortgages at highest levels
According to this BusinessWeek story San Diego leads the country in the percentage of interest-only (IO) mortgages issued, with San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose at #3, #5 and #6 with 45.3%, 43.1% and 41.1% respectively of all mortgages in 2004:
BusinessWeek Online has obtained the first-ever measurement by metro area of the increasing popularity of interest-only mortgages, and it shows that San Diego rates No. 1, by number of "IOs" in 2004. In metro San Diego, 47.3% of all mortgages required interest payments only in their early years. The survey covered the top 50 metro areas in the U.S. and measured by the total number of mortgages issued. Atlanta, San Francisco, Denver, and Oakland, Calif., followed close behind San Diego. Milwaukee turned in the lowest number, just 4.8% interest-only loans last year.