After Maria, mortgage delinquencies in Puerto Rico rose, then returned near the earlier level

Recovery after a hurricane is also measured in each family's house. A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), published on May 20, 2026, examined what happened to mortgages in Puerto Rico before and after Maria. The primary source is the institutional page for Hurricane Maria: Mortgage Performance in Puerto Rico. The report is not a register of individual aid and not a list of family cases. It summarizes findings from a study published in 2023 by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The starting point was already fragile. When Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, more than 10 percent of active mortgages were already delinquent. After the hurricane, the share of delinquent loans rose to roughly triple by November 2017. According to the GAO summary, the rate returned to about the level it had before Maria around a year later. That describes a sharp rise and a relatively quick recovery in the set of loans studied. It does not mean every family recovered income or housing at the same pace.

Foreclosures followed a different path. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Department of Agriculture set a foreclosure moratorium from the fourth quarter of 2017 through the third quarter of 2018. During that pause, foreclosures kept falling even as delinquencies rose. They then rose for several months and returned to earlier trends about a year after the moratorium ended. The GAO notes that many of the mortgages foreclosed in 2019 were probably already delinquent before Maria.

The report also explains that the financial hit was not the same for every loan. Mortgages with federal insurance or a federal guarantee, including those backed by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs, were less likely to produce losses for banks. Conventional mortgages without that protection concentrated more of the losses. The difference matters because a general delinquency rate does not by itself say who bore the cost, what protection the loan had, or what difficulty the household faced.

Housing in Puerto Rico also has a structural particularity. In 2017 the homeownership rate was comparable to the mainland, but financing a home with a mortgage was less common: about 41 percent of owner-occupied homes had a mortgage, compared with about 67 percent on the mainland. The GAO links that difference, among other factors, to a large informal-housing sector. When a family does not have clear title to the house, it can be harder to get financing or to reach certain protections.

The study reviewed by the GAO also found that developer return rates could not be analyzed because the data were not available. That limit keeps the report from becoming a total explanation of the housing market. What it does offer is a specific picture: delinquencies, bank losses, foreclosures, and homeownership around Maria.

The GAO's conclusion is that the aggregate effect of Maria on mortgages appeared moderate or short-lived, in part because the protections and the moratorium slowed a larger chain of foreclosures. That conclusion does not erase the human damage, or the losses of families who could not pay, repair, or document their housing. It also does not allow a claim that a particular person received, or did not receive, a particular federal aid.

Next to note 1363, the lens changes. The sister note examines the national design of disaster assistance and the scale of federal appropriations. This note looks at the stability of residential loans after Maria. Both speak about recovery, and one does not replace the other's data. The primary source is a single GAO publication and its summary of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York evidence.

So the words are clear

These are the measures the report uses to explain Maria's effect on mortgages.

More than 10 percent

The share of active mortgages already delinquent when Maria arrived.

A triple rise

The delinquency rate rose to roughly triple by November 2017 and returned near the earlier level about a year later.

Moratorium

A pause on foreclosures from the fourth quarter of 2017 through the third quarter of 2018.

Insured or guaranteed mortgage

A loan with a federal protection that can limit the bank's loss.

Home with a mortgage

About 41 percent in Puerto Rico, compared with about 67 percent on the mainland, according to the report.

Primary source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, Hurricane Maria: Mortgage Performance in Puerto Rico, GAO-26-108982, published May 20, 2026 - https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108982